


It's Tradition

by Justice_hime



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-06
Updated: 2012-05-06
Packaged: 2017-11-04 22:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/398728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justice_hime/pseuds/Justice_hime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tradition; a time honoured practice or set of such practices. Naruto is learning that there are just some traditions that cannot be broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
> 
> Warnings: Shounen-ai, swearing.
> 
> A/N: Naruto-tachi are 16 and Chuunin. Sasuke never got his curse mark, therefore he never left the village, hence Naruto and Sasuke did not try to kill each other, which all equals a happy fic. Yay!

Naruto was restless, his mind working overtime as he tried to do anything _except_  think.

Tomorrow would be the start of _that_ week; he didn’t need a calendar to tell him, he could feel it, like a gut instinct.

It was only a matter of time before…before…

Naruto turned over in his bed for what felt like the millionth time that night and shook his head as if to shake away his thoughts.

Tomorrow would dawn just like any other day, but to Naruto it was anything **but** _just another day._ It was the beginning of _that_ week, the week that had happened every year since _it_ had first occurred.

That day, four years ago…that…that _damned kiss!_ He could have glossed right over it, pretended like it had never happened, but then it had happened _again_. Almost _exactly_ a year later he and Sasuke had been injured in a mission and confined to the hospital, neither knowing if the other was alright. After waking up, Naruto had rushed to Sasuke’s room but in his haste to see the other boy he hadn’t noticed the shadow behind the door and burst through it crashing into Sasuke causing them to fall to the ground in a mess of tangled limbs, and much to Naruto’s embarrassment, lips.

After leaping off the shocked boy, Naruto had said something like “S-so your okay then,” and bolted from the room. He couldn’t face the other boy for a while after that.

Naruto probably could have gotten over _that_ with time, but a year later…

They both had guard duty and after their rounds they had sat at their designated post for what was looking to be a long but quiet night.

Some time through the shift Naruto fell into a half doze, only paying a token attention to his surroundings until a rustling in the bushes to his right had his eyes flying open and his hand going straight for his weapons pouch. Everything had gone silent again and Naruto had relaxed, figuring it had only been a bird or something, when suddenly a giant brown blur had come flying out of the bushes at him.

Yelling in surprise, Naruto had half dived to the left, twisting as he moved to get out of the way and found himself lip-to-lip with Sasuke…again. He had babbled for a good ten minutes before Sasuke had smacked him over the head, effectively silencing him; then the raven-haired boy had continued as if nothing had happened.

So after all that, Naruto was pretty nervous by the time _that_ week had come along again last year…but it seemed knowing wasn’t enough.

Team seven were meeting as usual; same place, same time. Naruto thought he had been prepared that time around but apparently not.

After his initial nervousness, Naruto had just played it cool.

In other words he acted like Sasuke had some sort of killer disease and was trying to pass it on to him.

He had stayed right down the other end of the bridge, every now and then taking quick glances around as if waiting for an ambush. But three hours later, when Kakashi-sensei finally turned up, Naruto had been forced to join his other team mates at the centre of the bridge and when their mission was explained Naruto had immediately started to edge away in the opposite direction from Sasuke only to be trapped by the third member of the team: Sakura. She had started prattling on about one thing or another, Naruto hadn’t been sure what, when she was rudely interrupted by Sasuke.

“What’s with you?” he had said, directing the question at Naruto, who had then jumped in surprise and said the first thing that came to mind.

“ _Stay away from me!”_

He soon realised that it wasn’t the right thing to say though, when Sakura took it as a personal insult. Even if it didn’t have anything to do with her, it was about ‘her’ Sasuke-kun, and so she proceeded to give him a smack up-side the head for the comment, unintentionally causing him to tumble in Sasuke’s direction just as the other boy had turned towards him, an insult on the tip of his tongue; and just like that they were once again mouth-to-mouth.

He had run that time, not even sparing a glance at Sakura who, he knew, would have been ready to beat the life out of him.

So it had become their own little tradition, and an unwelcome one at that.

And now it was _that_ week once again; but this time, _this time_ he had a plan. A foolproof plan…a _perfect_ plan.

He was going to stay inside all week. That’s right, _all week!_ No one would come looking for him. Naruto had just returned from a month long mission with Sasuke and Shikamaru; Sakura had been working with Ino doing reconnaissance work in the wave country.

They’d just think he was having his hard earned rest--if they thought of him at all that is.

So, with his plan in mind, Naruto drifted off to sleep.

 

\---

 

 

 **7:00am** \- Things were looking good. He’d woken up a bit later then usual, but that was because he’d been up half the night going over his brilliant plan. Naruto mentally gave himself a pat on the back, grinning as he continued to brush his teeth.

The plan would work, he _knew_ it, it was foolproof; _no one_ was getting near him this time, not for anything.

 

 **7:41am** \- Everything was still good, Naruto was fully dressed, wide awake and eating his second bowl of ramen.

He would break this tradition no matter what.

 

 **8:15am** \- Time for some training.

Naruto sat among the many scrolls that littered his apartment floor and randomly pulled one into his lap, staring at the writing as if was written in another language.

“What?” Naruto stared harder at the scroll, slightly hopeful it would answer.

It didn’t.

The blonde discarded it and selected a second scroll, then put it back as he caught the words _‘Strategy anthology’_ written across the top.

In the end, Naruto settled for a bit of charka training before heading to his ‘gym’.

 

 **9:24am** \- No visitors, no nothing. _This really_ is _a perfect plan_! Naruto thought as he headed towards the bathroom, time for a shower.

 

 **9:34am** \- So far, so good. With his morning routine over, Naruto…did nothing. He usually left for heavier training now. But he couldn’t risk it…could he?

“NO!” he said aloud, shaking his head. _No._ He wasn’t about to risk this; he would just have to find something else to occupy himself with till it was time for lunch and then he would go visit the old man down -

“Damn it!” the blond muttered, he didn’t think this plan out as well as he’d originally thought.

Okay then…he could just have lunch here! But wait, if he was staying in _all_ week he’d…he’d run out of cup ramen!

Naruto sat down where he was, (somewhere between his bedroom and dining area) sitting Indian style, his eyes closing in concentration.

What could he do? Cut down on ramen? Naruto laughed out loud at the thought, no, that would never work.

Go to the shops? But what if _it_ happened while his was there? No.

“Hmm…” Naruto opened his eyes and stared at nothing in particular while his brain worked overtime and after a good 15 minutes he came to the conclusion that not only would he starve if he were to stick to this plan, but he would also go out of his mind with boredom.

“Need a new plan!” Naruto stood up, deciding that some deep meditation was in order, and headed back towards his room.

Once there he made himself comfortable and started to meditate…and woke up almost two and a half hours later.

**12:17pm** \- Naruto was hungry. After waking up from a sleep he didn’t remember falling into he walked straight to his kitchen, his mind set on a nice hot cup of ramen. He set the jug to boil and sat at his table, idly drumming his fingers atop the hardwood. He hadn’t thought of a new plan yet and he’d shot down every new plan his tired mind had come up with.

Standing as the jug begun to whistle, Naruto moved to turn it off, grabbing his cup ramen on the way. He turned off the jug and began to break the seal that covered his delicious weakness but stopped when there was a light tap on his front door before it was opened.

“AHHH!” Naruto dropped his cup ramen and stared open mouthed at his uninvited guest.

“Y-you! Getoutofmyhouse!” Naruto spluttered, all the while berating himself for _not locking the damn door!_

Sasuke didn’t look impressed.

“What are you talking about? _Dobe_ ,” Sasuke seemed to add the last part on as an afterthought Naruto observed, and before he had a chance to reply Sasuke was talking again.

“Sakura wants to catch up; we’re meeting at the ramen stand,” Sasuke finished and looked at Naruto expectedly.

Ramen… _no_! Did Sasuke think he was stupid? He wasn’t falling for it. Uzumaki Naruto was smarter than _that._

“No,” Naruto said simply, and for a brief second he caught the slightly shocked look that passed across the other boys face before it was replaced with his usual impassive expression.

“I’m busy,” Naruto added, turning back towards the kitchen counter and trying to actually _look_ busy.

“Hn. I’ll buy.”

Naruto turned around quickly, was Sasuke serious? He looked at the other boy closely; he looked serious. But then again, Sasuke always looked serious…

The dark-haired boy turned, clearly taking Naruto’s silence as a no and he started to leave.

Naruto panicked.

“Wait!” he was notletting a chance for free ramen pass him by.

“I’m not _that_ busy.”

 

-

 

Naruto walked down the street with Sasuke, heading towards the ramen stand.

Naruto walked down the street, towards the ramen stand, with Sasuke.

Naruto walked down the street with Sasuke.

Naruto was walking down the street with Sasuke.

Naruto was walking down the street, and Sasuke was with him.

Sasuke was with him.

 _Sasuke_ was with him.

Sasuke was with _him._

Naruto stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face the other boy. There was a moment of complete silence as Naruto fully absorbed this fact and then he stumbled back, half tripping over his feet as he lifted his hand to point at Sasuke accusingly.

"You...you tricked me!"

Sasuke paused and turned to face the other boy. "...tricked you..?" he said, a look of mild confusion on his face.

"Yes!” Naruto shouted, his arm still pointed at Sasuke. “Did you think you could just-"

" _Sasuke-kun_!" called the familiar voice of Sakura, and both boys looked to where the voice had come from only to see that they were standing right in front of their destination.

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto greeted enthusiastically, putting his hands behind his head--his beef with Sasuke momentarily forgotten. “You’re already here!” he laughed and moved to take a seat at the far left side of the ramen stand, trying to put Sakura between himself and Sasuke. There was a sudden flurry of movement at his action as Sakura, hoping to put Sasuke between her and Naruto, went to the far left while Sasuke tried to make Naruto take the centre seat.

Naruto stumbled as Sakura knocked him towards the seat on the right only to be pushed back toward the middle seat by Sasuke, he quickly dodged as Sakura made to push him again and dived around her, making it to the other side and grinned triumphantly at his two team mates.

His success was short lived.

Sakura pulled Naruto towards her and stepped to the side, thinking he would fly straight into the right seat--she clearly forgot Sasuke was standing right behind her.

Naruto let out a startled noise as he flew toward the dark-haired boy, his ninja skills kicking in just in time and he managed to stop inches away from Sasuke’s face.

“ _Dobe_ ,” Sasuke said, his breath warm against Naruto’s skin.

Naruto jerked himself back quickly and lost his balance, falling neatly into the middle seat and, with a sigh of defeat, and a smirk in Sasuke’s case, the others sat down as well--Sasuke on the left and Sakura on the right.

During their wait, Naruto slowly begun to inch his way closer to Sakura and by the time their ramen arrived he was far enough away from Sasuke to enjoy his meal. Sighing with contentment, Naruto managed to finish his third bowl of ramen before Sakura, finally noticing his close proximity, roughly pushed him away; unintentionally causing him to fly head first into Sasuke’s lap.

The blond boy stayed still a moment; his brain processing what had just happened--then he screamed. Not a guy scream - oh no - this was a girly ‘oh my god there’s some pervert spying on me while I’m in the shower’ type scream.

Almost hyperventilating, he tried his best to get off of Sasuke without touching him any further than he already was so, arms flaying around him, Naruto managed to knock over both his and Sasuke’s bowls of ramen before wrenching himself away from the dark-haired boy.

Face bright red, Naruto glared at Sasuke, “what do you think you’re doing!? You…you…”

“What are you talking about, _dobe_?” Sasuke asked calmly, not looking the least bit ruffled, “I’m not the one _falling_ into people’s laps.”

“Falling?!” Naruto shouted disbelievingly, “she pushed me!” he said and pointed at Sakura who, by the look on her face, had gone to her happy place.

“Hn. Whatever,” the dark-haired boy repiled, his tone clearly stating that he didn’t believe a word Naruto was saying.

“Bastard! I’m telling the truth!”

“…”

“Why would I want to…to…AHHH!” Naruto yelled in frustration, his hands balling up into fist. “Fine! I’m leaving!” and with that Naruto sped off down the street, heading in the general direction of the training area.

 

\--

 

“Take _that_ …and _that_ …” Naruto bit out, reinforcing his words with hard punches and kicks against one of the many tree stumps littering the training grounds. His plan had fallen through and he didn’t have a backup--he was a ninja for Kami’s sake, ninja’s had back up plans _for_ their backup plans.

He punched the stump harder still.

He’d already had a close call today _and_ he’d ended up in the other boys lap! He was going to have to pay more attention or suffer the consequences--something he wasn’t willing to do.

And Sasuke! What was with him! Acting all cool and unconcerned. Did he not realise that it was _that_ week? Or…or maybe he _did_ know and…and he _wanted_ it to happen. Maybe the other boy had planned it all…but wait, how could he have planned on Sakura pushing him last year?

“Oh my god…” Sakura had caused him to fly into Sasuke _twice_ earlier! They…they were…

“They’re in it together!” Naruto said, his eyes widening with realisation. They were playing with him, trying to see how long before he snapped, he just knew it! The first kiss…well, either of them could have told that guy to push him…and the second…

“Oh.” Okay, that one had been his fault. So maybe they weren’t in it together, but it couldn’t all just be a coincidence. There was definitely something or someone behind this, there had to be.

“But…how..?” he said aloud, pausing in mid kick to think.

“How what?” came Sasuke’s voice from behind him and, with a yelp of fright, Naruto leapt away from him, hugging the tree-stump he’d just been beating up on for dear life.

“ _Stay away from me_!” he yelled, panic beginning to take over when Sasuke stepped towards him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” the dark-haired boy asked, stopping in front of him, “you’ve been jumpy all day.”

“Nothing,” Naruto answered quickly, pressing closer into the stump, “what are _you_ doing here?” he queried back suspiciously. 

“I train here too, dobe.”

Naruto opened and closed his mouth, fighting to come up with a comeback, “yeah? Well…I was here first!” he said proudly, grinning from ear-to-ear.

Sasuke stared at Naruto flatly, one eyebrow raised and his hands in his pockets.

Naruto met the other boy’s gaze for as long as he could before his cheeks started to burn as his ‘brilliant comeback’ echoed in his head. So maybe it wasn’t the best comeback in the world--but if he rode it out…

“Well?!” he demanded, trying to pass off the colour in his cheeks as anger, “leave!”

Sasuke closed the small distance between them, pausing when their noses were within a breath of touching, “and what will you do…if I don’t,” he said challengingly.

Naruto’s breath hitched in his throat as Sasuke made no move, either forward or back. “I-I…I-I’ll…” he struggled to find his voice and watched as Sasuke stepped back finally, his expression one of confusion.

“What _is_ wrong with you?” he demanded.

Naruto stared at the other boy, sudden awareness registering the fact that Sasuke had no idea it was _that_ week, no idea what he was going through with trying to keep as far away from him as possible and for reasons unknown--it pissed him off. Without another word, the blond chuunin took off, pushing past Sasuke and running straight to the safety of his apartment.

Once inside he slammed the door loudly behind him before thudding back against it heavily; slowly sliding down the frame into a crouch as realisation dawned on him. Had he just run away from Sasuke?

“Oh god…I did,” great, that was just _great._

Naruto sighed tiredly, his head falling back to rest against the door and he watched as the light faded across the ceiling as it slowly left the room with the onset of night. What the hell was he going to do? This was _not_ going according to plan. At all.

Maybe he should ask that old-hag-Hokage for a mission, just get away from here till next week or something…

“Yeah…” he agreed with himself, “that might work…”

Naruto was abruptly woken up by a loud banging on the door, the noise seeming to reverberate through him and he was just nodding off again when the action was repeated, shaking him awake as he realised his ‘pillow’ was in fact the door.

“I fell asleep…” he mumbled sleepily, rubbing at his eyes before cracking one of them open to take in his apartment.

“Ahhh…” the blond stretched his arms over his head before slowly getting to his feet, forcing his strained and numbed muscles awake.

Why was he awake again?

His silent question was immediately answered with another round of loud banging on his door.

Oh. Right.

Naruto turned and pulled the door open without a second thought, then, seeing who was on the other side, tried to close it quickly.

“What do you want, teme?!” Naruto yelled, pushing against the door with all his might and trying, unsuccessfully, to shut Sasuke out.

“Chi’. Fine, have it your way, dobe!”

Naruto sighed when the door slammed shut and leaned back against it once again, relaxing. What the hell was Sasuke doi-

Naruto’s thoughts were cut off as he unexpectedly found himself lying sprawled on the floor, barely managing to catch himself before his face met the hardwood, “what the…” he craned his head around, looking over his shoulder and he turned around quickly, leaning back on his hands.

“S-Sasuke…”

The boy in question stood in the doorway, a triumphant smirk on his lips, “I know what’s going on with you…dobe,” Sasuke all but purred, walking towards Naruto slowly and with clear intent. “And I want you to know…” he continued, apparently unfazed by the petrified look on Naruto’s face as he shuffled backwards. “…that I want this to happen…”

Naruto continued to move backwards, his eyes never leaving Sasuke’s. “w-want w-what to h-happen...?” he stuttered out nervously and yelped when his back met the wall. He was doomed.

“This…” Sasuke purred and leaned down, grabbing Naruto’s chin gently and guiding their mouth’s together.

Naruto was suddenly awoken to loud banging on his door, the door right behind his head.

“A…dream?” he mumbled sleepily, rubbing at his eyes before cracking one of them open to take in his apartment.

“Ahhh…” Stretching his arms over his head, Naruto slowly got to his feet.

What a fucked-up dream. The situation was _obviously_ getting to him too much if he was dreaming horrible things like that. Thank goodness he’d woken up…but how had he woken up to begin with?

His question was immediately answered with another round of loud banging on his door. Oh, right.

Naruto turned and, brain still sluggish from his impromptu nap, swung open the door only to immediately try to slam it shut again.

“No way! Not after _that_. Go _away_!” Naruto yelled, pushing against the door with all his might and trying, unsuccessfully, to shut Sasuke out.

“Chi’. Fine, have it your way, dobe!”

Naruto sighed with relief as the door slammed shut and he leaned back against it once again, relaxing slightly. A second later he remembered this too from his dream and with a feeling of dread tried to move away from the door, but his move was a second to late and once again he found himself hurling towards the floor as the door slammed open behind him.

“ _Teme!_ ” he turned around quickly, leaning back on his hands and staring up at the black-haired boy glaring at him from the doorway.

“S-Sasuke…”

“I want to know what’s going on with you,” Sasuke said, walking towards Naruto, “you were acting like a maniac yesterday and,” he continued, apparently unfazed by the petrified look on Naruto’s face as he shuffled backwards, “you ran _away_.”

Naruto yelped when his back met the wall, his eyes trained on Sasuke as the other boy continued to move toward him. This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t.

The blond’s eyes widened as Sasuke leaned down towards him and he reflexively brought up an arm to punch the other boy, not expecting it to connect. Which of course it did.

 Sasuke’s face snapped to the side as a crack echoed through the small apartment and Naruto, seeing his chance to escape, ran hell for leather out the door.

 

 

**End Chapter**

 

Please R&R! ****


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Never play leapfrog with a Unicorn.

 

Naruto was still running.

If he had to guess, he’d say he had been running for at least a good hour now. He was planning on stopping, of course…just not yet. He had hit Sasuke without warning and, to Sasuke, without reason. Not a good thing. Naruto had realised the minute he hit Sasuke that the boy had had absolutely no intention of kissing him--but by that point it had been too late. Running seemed like his best option, well, it was _an_ option and it’s not that he was afraid of the other boy, no way! He just didn’t want to have to explain his actions because, let’s face it, what the hell would he say? ‘Oh, sorry about that--I thought you were going to kiss me.’ That didn’t really seem to cut it. So here he was, still running.

Or maybe not.

Naruto smacked into something and rebounded off, landing hard on his back. Stunned, the blond boy lay where he’d landed, contemplating whether to get up and keep going or just lay there until someone dragged him away when a blurry face appeared above him.

“…Shikamaru?”

“Chi’. You’re so troublesome,” the darker-haired boy muttered, helping Naruto to his feet, “watch where you’re going next time.”

“Y-Yeah…” Naruto said distractedly, looking around for any signs of Sasuke.

“Oi,” Shikamaru said, trying to get Naruto’s attention as the blonde looked compulsively around himself, “what’s wrong with you?”

“Wrong?” Naruto repeated in reply, his eyes finally resting on the other boy. “Err…nothing. Really. It’s nothing. There’s nothing wrong, why would there be anything wrong? Am I acting like there’s something wrong? Cause there isn’t anything wrong, I’m perfectly fine. _Perfectly_ fine. Never been better; cause there’s nothing wrong at all. It wasn’t like I was running away or anything. Especially not from Sasuke, I’d _never_ run away from _Sasuke_. You’re talking about Sasuke a lot. What makes you think it has anything to do with Sasuke--it’s got nothing to _do_ with Sasuke. It’s not like I punched him and ran away or anything, I didn’t; and if I did it was only cause he was acting like a pervert while I was sleeping. In my head I mean, not really, but he could have been. I mean when I woke up and he forced his way into my apartment it was just like in my dream so I thought he was going to kiss me. That’s logical, right? He was coming all close and everything so of _course_ I had to punch him and it’s really his fault cause he’s the one that was kissing _me_ in my dream so what was I supposed to do? Let him do it in real life too? So I had to punch him, and maybe that will teach him a lesson for following me around everywhere and he _has_ to know it’s _that week_ this week, right? Okay, maybe he doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did and he’s just stalking around messing with me and _trying_ to kiss me. Oh man! What if he _is_ trying to kiss me? What if my dream was a warning and he really _was_ going to kiss me when I punched him. That means that no matter where I go to hide he’ll follow me and I won’t be able to get away from him and he’ll kiss me anyway and… Shikamaru! You have to hide me!” Naruto suddenly grabbed Shikamaru’s arms and shook him, “Sasuke’s trying to steal my innocence!!”

Shikamaru stared at Naruto flatly, his left eyebrow beginning to twitch slightly as he slowly pried the other boy off him. “So troublesome,” he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets as he deliberately stepped around Naruto and walked away.

“Hey!” Naruto yelled after him indignantly, “you asked!”

After a few minutes of yelling obscenities after the lazy chuunin Naruto slowly began to make his way to the ramen stand, hoping to drown his sorrow in at least ten bowls of the stuff. Almost halfway there, Konoha’s two biggest Sasuke lovers stopped the blond boy in his path. “S-Sakura…Ino…how’s it going?” Naruto asked nervously.

Both girls looked at each other hatefully before turning back to him, “do you know where Sasuke-kun is?” they said in unison, staring at Naruto expectantly.

“W-Why would I know where _he_ is?! I-I mean, we’re not even friends, we hate each other! What makes you think-”

“ _Naruto_!” Sakura said loudly, eyeing the boy strangely, “you guys were supposed to train together this morning, baka, now where is he?!”

“Naruto-kun,” Ino said sweetly, taking his hand in hers, “could you please tell me where I could find Sasuke-kun?”

“I-I…”

“Ino-pig!” Sakura fumed, watching the other girls’ tactics, “Naruto, don’t tell her anything! She’s nothing but a…”

“So…have you seen him at all today?”

“…and she’s not even _close_ to being good enough for Sasuke-kun…”

“Did you two train today? Is he still there?” the blond girl said, trying to get a sign that Naruto was listening to her.

“…it’s just sad that she keeps it up, after all, Sasuke would never go for her…”

“Or has he gone home already?” Ino continued, struggling to keep the sweetness in her voice as Sakura continued her rant.

“…not even in a million years,” Sakura laughed suddenly, “he’s more likely to marry _Naruto_ then stupid, ugly Ino-pig!”

Naruto snapped out of his stupor at that and turned to the pink-haired girl, “I don’t know where Sasuke is, I haven’t seen him today, I don’t care where he is and _I hope I never have to see him again!”_ Naruto yelled, turning around and running in the opposite direction.

 

It took Naruto until he was at least five blocks away to realise he was running in the wrong direction. Away from ramen.

He slowed to a stop, trying to catch his breath, and sighed. Why was it always about Sasuke? He turned around and stared wistfully in the direction of the ramen stand. Why did everything have to happen to him? There were plenty of girls, not to mention quite a few boys, that would be more than happy to be in his situation.

Slowly, Naruto began to drag his feet forward. He was incredibly hungry and if he got to Ichiraku’s within the next hour or two Iruka would be there.

“Free ramen…” Naruto all but drooled, picking up his pace.

“Naruto-kun!” shouted an unbelievingly happy voice from his right before he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug.

“F-fuzzy-eyebrows…” Naruto managed to choke out, clawing at the other boys back, “c-could you…loosen y-your grip…”

“OH!” the black-haired boy let go immediately, “sorry, sorry…I’m just so happy to see you! You’ve been away for a while and I missed you terribly!” Lee declared, striking a pose.

“Ah…t-thanks.” Naruto said, stepping back slightly. “So…er… are you off to train?” Naruto asked suddenly, trying to change the subject.

“Well actually, I was looking for Sasuke-kun…”

Naruto froze.

“…we had a match before he left and I lost. But I’ve been training since you guys left and now I’m sure I can win!” he finished strongly, fire burning in his eyes as he looked off into the middle distance.

Naruto started to back away.

“Naruto-kun?” Lee said, coming back to himself as he noticed the other boy inching anyway, “where are you going?”

“I-I’m…”

“Are you going to see Sasuke-kun?”

“ _No!_ ”

“Oh…do you know where he-”

Lee’s voice was cut off as Naruto speed away, only to speed by again when he realised he had run in the wrong direction. Again.

 

 

“ _Argh_ …” Naruto leaned heavily against the wall of the random alley he had run into, his breathing laboured.

The idiot was chasing him!

“Damn it!” he cursed, looking around the alley; it figures he’d run into this one, it was a dead end.

Naruto listened closely for any sounds that Lee was close before he cautiously stepped back out on to the street, staring intently back the way he had come for any sign of the other boy. When his intent search revealed the coast was clear, Naruto finally sighed and turned around, intending to walk the other way, thankfully towards the ramen stand-

-and slammed straight into someone, knocking them both to the ground.

Instantly Naruto was desperately struggling to his feet, a single mantra going through his head. _Please don’t be Sasuke! Please don’t be Sasuke! **Please** don’t be Sasuke!_

“You _idiot_! Watch where the hell you’re going!” the admonition was accompanied by a low voiced growl and, having managed to get himself onto his hands-and-knees, Naruto found himself nose-to-nose with Akamaru.

 _Kiba_. Phew.

Relief flooded through the blonde as he scrambled the rest of the way to his feet--the last thing he would have wanted at that moment was to have crashed headlong into Sasuke.

“Sorry, Kiba,” Naruto said distractedly, brushing his pants off, “wasn’t looking. Seeya!” Next stop, Ramen.

“Hey!” Naruto had managed three steps before his left leg refused to move, being held back by Akamaru’s teeth firmly gripping the leg of his pants, “where are you going in such a hurry?” Kiba demanded.

“Ramen,” Naruto said shortly, tugging at his pants leg.

Kiba frowned at him, “again? Don’t you eat anything else?”

“No,” Naruto tugged a little harder on his pants, trying to shake Akamaru off.

“Seriously, man, that’s no good for you,” Kiba leaned back against the wall behind him and glared at Naruto, waiting for some kind of response. When he didn’t get one, his eyes narrowed and he stood back up straight. “What’s got into you today? You’re never this quiet, you’ve been spending too much time around Uchiha; you’re beginning to act like him.”

Naruto stopped fighting with Akamaru for the possession of his pants leg immediately as his head snapped up and he glared at Kiba. “N-no, I’m not! No I haven’t! I’m not like Sasuke! I’m _never_ around him. I hardly ever see him!” he lifted his arm and pointed at the other boy furiously, “you take that back!”

“What?” Kiba stared at Naruto as if he’d grown an extra head, perhaps one with tentacles and an extra-large nose, “what the hell are you talking about, you two are _always_ together.”

“No, we’re not! No we’re _not_! You think I’d hang around with that bastard? _Never_! I only do cause I have too, for _missions_ and _training_!”

Kiba crossed his arms over his chest, “Which is always. _All. Ways._ ”

“It is _not_!” Naruto’s voice had grown a little high pitched and he was now gripping his hands at his sides in frustration. How could Kiba say he was always with Sasuke? He was barely ever with Sasuke. Never, except for missions and training and the occasional free bowl of ramen! All of his free time was spent blissfully Sasuke-free…when he had free time that is. When he wasn’t on missions…or training… “Ahhh!!” Naruto suddenly lifted his arm again and stabbed his finger in Kiba’s direction, “you’re trying to trick me! I never hang around with that guy so _stop talking about him!_ ” and with that Naruto jerked his pants leg free of Akamaru’s now loose grip and stomped off down the road, his annoyance demonstrated in every step he took.

Damn Kiba. He was the fifth one to talk about Sasuke today, on the one day he really didn’t want to talk about him. Not that he normally wanted to talk about him, because he didn’t, ever. Naruto didn’t even like _thinking_ about that bastard; especially not _today_ , or _tomorrow_ or for _any day this week_. Not until he had gotten through this week without a _single_ kiss with _Sasuke_. _Then_ maybe he’d think about him--not that he’d want too, or wanted to now either. There was absolutely no reason why he should think about Sasuke. _None at all_.

“ _Then why the hell am I still thinking about him!?!”_ Naruto had stopped dead in the centre of the street as he shouted this and people were now beginning to walk carefully around him, shooting him reproachful glances as they went.

Naruto glared back at the people skirting around him sourly and then turned to face the direction of the ramen stand for what felt like the umpteenth time and resolutely set forth back on his quest for breakfast.

 

Naruto had run further from the ramen stand then he had originally thought and he had been walking for more than twenty minutes now trying to navigate his way there, preferably without running into anyone. _Sasuke._

He determinedly quickened his pace as he marched towards Ichiraku’s, all he wanted to do was sit down and have a nice bowl of ramen--hopefully provided by Iruka. Free ramen always tasted better and as luck would have it, said mentioned teacher sat blowing cool air over his newly delivered ramen, the steam clearly visible from where Naruto now stood, halfway down the street from the Ramen stand.

Naruto was at Iruka’s side in an instant, a friendly arm slung around his shoulder as he all but drooled over his teacher’s meal. Iruka paused, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “Hello, Naruto,” the brown-haired man said pleasantly, already resigned to his fate, “would you like some ramen?”

Naruto grinned, all thoughts of Sasuke, kissing and the fact it was _that_ week disappearing from his mind as he slipped into the seat beside Iruka, digging into the bowl of ramen that was almost immediately placed in front of him; the old ramen guy obviously knowing the drill just as well as Iruka.

Naruto was through his first and second bowls of ramen and ordering his third by the time he slowed down a little; pausing in between bites to cast Iruka a contented grin and a word of thanks for the meal.

“So,” Iruka began, setting his chopsticks down across his empty bowl, “you and Sasuke seem to be getting along better these days…”

Sasuke. _Again._

Naruto’s head snapped around to stare at Iruka with an expression close to horror. He’d thought he was safe! Here, of all places, he’d thought he wouldn’t have to hear about _that guy_ \--and from Iruka to top it all off.

It took a moment before the shock wore off, and that was only because he suddenly realised that he’d just poured the dregs of his ramen down his front when he had turned his head away from the bowl.

“Ahhh!” Naruto dropped the bowl on to the counter and leapt out of his stool. “Why…why… _why is it always about_ him!” he yelled before doing an about face and stomping away from the ramen stand.

“Was it something I said?” Iruka asked himself as he watched Naruto’s retreating figure disappear into the crowded street, his expression perplexed.

 

 _The Gods must hate me,_ Naruto thought as he continued to stomp down the street, not really heading in any particular direction. If one more person mentioned Sasuke to him today, he would-

“Yo!”

 _Oh no. No._ He didn’t need to turn around to know who was behind him; years of hearing that exact same greeting nearly every morning had instilled the knowledge within him and without even thinking about it he picked up his pace, seconds later diving into a full on sprint.

…Was it just him or was he going nowhere fast?

Slowly Naruto craned his head around, struggling to look over his shoulder and find out what had so suddenly stopped his rapid movement.

“Hello, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said dully, abruptly stopping all movement and wilting in place. There was no getting away now. Obviously the second he had heard the dreaded ‘Yo’ it had been too late.

“Hello, Naruto!” Kakashi said, his voice laced with something that could only be an overwhelming joy in the face of Naruto’s pain.

Naruto struggled for a moment, his feet kicking in the air a few inches above the ground, before Kakashi finally let go of Naruto’s shirt, causing the blonde to fall to the ground.

Picking himself up, Naruto turned to glare at his teacher, “what do you want?!”

“Want?” Kakashi repeated innocently, his gaze turning lazily to survey the buildings around them with apparent interest.

Naruto stared at the silver-haired man flatly, clearly not in the mood for his games.

Kakashi turned his attention back to Naruto and his one visible eye turned upwards as he smiled behind his mask, “guard duty. Six till midnight at the sector three gate,” he said and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“ _EHHHH!?_ ”

 

“Stupid Kakashi…” Naruto muttered for the millionth time as he walked into his apartment. After Kakashi had left he had decided to come home, thinking a good nap was what he needed if he was going to be up half the night, only to remember why he had been out so long in the first place. After thirty minutes of staking out his own home, Naruto had come to the conclusion that Sasuke was definitely _not_ waiting around to kill him and had finally climbed out of his hiding place and slunk into the building; his only desire to get to bed.

…And then he remembered he was covered in the dregs of his lunch. He may have loved ramen but he certainly didn’t want to go around smelling like the stuff--he was in desperate need of a shower.

It was a good twenty minutes later before Naruto finally stepped into his bedroom and, yawning, pulled on clean clothes before hopping into bed; falling asleep within seconds.

 

 Naruto woke up a good fifteen minutes before he had to report for guard duty…yet he still ended up being ten minutes late. Why you might ask? Well…he had to make sure, _absolutely_ sure, that Sasuke wasn’t about to ambush him in the middle of the street, didn’t he?

“You’re late,” stated one of the guards when Naruto finally did arrive in a less than enthusiastic rush, “you were supposed to be here at six o’clock.”

“Hehehe…” Naruto laughed uneasily, “well…I’m here now!”

“Hn. We’ll be leaving then,” was his answer and the two guards leaped onto the roof of a nearby store and then off into the night, disappearing almost instantly.

Naruto gaped after them for a moment before he managed to do anything; and that was to suddenly start waving his arms after the men and to yell, “Wait! Where’s my partner?!”

“Right here, _dobe_.”

Naruto instantly went still. _No. Not_ him. _Anyone but_ him! He hadn’t even realised there was anyone here, there probably wasn’t; he was just so paranoid that he was hearing things. That’s right--he was hearing things. Still, even if he were hearing things, that still left him without a partner for guard duty.

Scowling, the blonde spun on his heel, intending to walk over to the gates he was meant to be guarding and came face-to-face with none other that Sasuke.

Damnit! He _hadn’t_ been hearing things…or maybe he was _seeing_ things too. He looked closely at the irritated boy, nope. The guy was really here.

“S-Sasuke, what are you doing here?”

Slowly, his gaze fixed on Naruto intently, Sasuke raised one black eyebrow and the blonde was suddenly reminded of something he’d learnt back at the academy. Predators could _sense_ _your fear_.

“Guard duty, baka,” Sasuke said after a long moment and then, to Naruto’s immense relief, looked away from him and turned to walk over to the gates.

“R-really...?” Naruto asked through the lump in his throat, desperately hoping that Sasuke was just messing with him. After all, this was where…was where _it_ had happened in the third year of their tradition. Not this _exact_ spot but close enough; in fact, in Naruto’s opinion, it was _too close_ , far too close. “Y-you have guard duty here? _Right here?_ ” Maybe, just _maybe_ , Sasuke had gotten the location wrong.

Sasuke paused as he reached the gates and looked back over his shoulder, the look he directed at Naruto clearing saying ‘I am extremely pissed off right now. Stop being an idiot or I’ll kill you’. “ _Yes_.” Sasuke said, very precisely, and then dismissed Naruto from his gaze again as he settled down next to the gates.

“…Oh,” Naruto swallowed slowly and gradually, staying as far away from the other boy as he could without looking like he was trying to run away and made his way over to the gate near Sasuke, resigning himself to a nervous night.

This was all Kakashi’s fault Naruto decided, for this…his teacher was _definitely_ going to pay. Naruto spent the first hour of the watch alternately dreaming up ways he could get back at Kakashi and casting sidelong, uneasy glances in Sasuke’s direction; the former offering him a welcome escape from his situation and the latter causing him to get jumpier and jumpier each time he did it.

For some reason Sasuke hadn’t reacted yet. Naruto had expected something more than a fierce glare when he saw the black-haired boy next and the fact that Sasuke was simply ignoring him and concentrating on _guarding_ was throwing Naruto off slightly. What was Sasuke thinking? Did he have something planned for revenge? Was he just biding his time? If so, what for? If the situation had been reversed, Naruto certainly wouldn’t have waited so long to retaliate, why-

His thoughts cut off suddenly as his attention was abruptly pulled to the right by a soft rustling coming from the bushes.

Naruto’s eyes went wide and he found himself unconsciously scuttling in Sasuke’s direction, before he realised just what it was he was doing and began to scuttle back the other way. Holding himself tense, Naruto ignored the feeling of Sasuke’s eyes boring into the side of his head and glared off to the right, into the bushes. Rabbits. Damned rabbits. This was just like the last time, but oh no… “…Not falling for it this time. Nice try, bunny, but I’m not doing it. I won’t go anywhere near him! I _win_!” Ha! That’s right, _he wins_. Not the rabbits--not this time! There would be _no_ accidental kiss _this_ time! “Stupid rabbits--probably planned it. I bet they did, I bet it’s the same rabbit, out for another shot. Well I showed it, didn’t I-”

“…Naruto.”

“-won’t be making me do _anything_ I don’t want too. The amazing Naruto _does not_ lose to bunnies.”

“Damnit. **_Naruto_**!!”

The sound came from directly next to Naruto’s head and not only managed to get the blonde’s attention, but also caused him to half scramble to his feet, his back hard up against the wall behind him as he stared around wildly. His eyes landed on Sasuke, meeting the other boy’s annoyed gaze as he slowly climbed to his feet from where he’d been crouching next to Naruto.

“S-Sasuke?”

“What’s _wrong_ with you?” Sasuke demanded again, taking a step closer to Naruto.

“Wrong?” Naruto automatically took a step backwards as Sasuke came _far_ to close for comfort, the left side of his back scraping against the wall as he moved. “N-nothings wrong. W-why do you think anything’s wrong. Nothing’s wrong,” this was it. Sasuke was finally going to kill him.

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed and he took another step closer to Naruto, effectively cutting off Naruto’s route of escape, “stop acting stupider than you already are, Naruto!”

“I-I’m not…I…” Naruto looked around wildly trying to find some way out of the situation he’d somehow landed in. At this rate he’d have to explain to Sasuke what was going on and that was _not_ an option. Not under _any_ circumstances…but there was no way out. Sasuke was standing between him and freedom, and behind him the wall was _more_ than effectively solid.

“Naruto…” Sasuke began, his voice almost growling the word.

“Everything is _fine_!” Naruto more yelled than said and started gathering chakra into his hand, figuring a solid punch would get Sasuke out of his way long enough for him to escape, “would you just leave me _alone_!?”

“Naru-” Sasuke paused and suddenly grabbed at Naruto’s hand, forcing it back against the wall next to the blonde’s head. “ _Naruto_! What the hell is-”

Naruto cut him off, “L-let me go!” Sasuke was getting far to close. _Far_ to close. “I-I said let me go… _pervert!_ ”

Sasuke stopped mid-sentence and stared at Naruto in complete shock at the word.

“ ** _Pervert!_** ” Naruto yelled again and yanked his hand out of Sasuke’s suddenly lax grip, “Get away from m-”

“S-Sasuke-kun…”

Naruto went completely still, his eyes moving reluctantly to look over Sasuke’s shoulder and into the darkening street beyond the gate he and Sasuke were supposed to be diligently guarding. Oh no-

Sakura.

“S-Sasuke-kun? W-what…what’s going on?” The girl asked, taking a small step closer to them, her eyes wide with confusion.

Sasuke made no answer and it was then that Naruto noticed that Sasuke hadn’t moved an inch, his eyes unfocused as he stared blankly at the wall. Naruto twitched, had he even noticed Sakura was there?

“D-damn it, Bastard. Get _off_ me!” Naruto growled, pushing Sasuke hard and quickly moving away from him. Stupid bastard. Sasuke had caused this…he could deal with it.

Not bothering to look back, Naruto took the opportunity to escape and ran straight passed Sakura and down the street. He was going to go home, lock his doors, and _this_ time **_nothing_** was making him come out until this week was well and truly _over_.

 

 

**End Chapter**


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Knock softly but firmly, the world needs soft, firm knockers.

 

Naruto glared sleepily at the empty cupboard before him, idly wondering why he had bothered to get up at all. After the fitful nights sleep he had had last night, running out of cup ramen first thing in the morning was the last thing he needed and he sure as hell didn’t want to go out--not after last night.

Naruto shivered.

What had Sasuke been thinking, away?! Acting like that… _oh god_ …and Sakura. How long had she been standing there? Well, long enough obviously, judging by her reaction. But how was he going to face her now? She was bound to confront him about it…

Naruto continued staring into the empty cupboard, his mind going over last night and before he could stop himself his thoughts turned to Sasuke.

“…wonder what he said…”

He sure as hell didn’t regret leaving last night. He didn’t even want to _think_ about what he would have done had Sasuke left him there, it wasn’t a situation easily explained. Even the truth would be a tough one to sell…

“…asshole probably didn’t say _anything_ ,” Naruto said out loud, chuckling as he shut the cupboard door. Yeah, that would be Sasuke…

Yawning, Naruto turned around and leaned back against the counter.

Now, getting back to the matter at hand--he was out of cup ramen. And anything else remotely edible, come to think of it.

“What to do…”

He didn’t want to have another day like yesterday, constantly running and looking over his shoulder…but what other choices did he have?

None.

Naruto sighed and pushed himself away from the counter, heading towards his room to get dressed. Besides, what were the chances of running into Sasuke at the market?

 

Naruto walked swiftly down the street, avoiding eye contact with anyone. In and out, that was his plan. No dilly-dallying, just straight to the ramen…

The blonde increased his pace as the market came into view, his heart almost leaping into his throat as he saw Kakashi and Iruka standing in front of a shop across the street. Thinking quickly, Naruto dived into the closest shop and speedily made his way to the back.

“Whew…” he breathed out, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead. Crisis averted.

Now, where was he exactly?

Looking around him, it looked as though he was in…

“Ha- _ha_!” Naruto said happily--it seemed luck was with him today, he had run straight into a small food store. Perfect! Ramen-ramen- _rameennn_ … Naruto sang in his head as he wandered through the aisle’s looking for exactly that and finding it in a matter of seconds, sitting in neatly stacked piles on the tables that lined the shops walls. He began to load his arms up with his much loved meal when he heard his name stuttered quietly behind him and, forgetting himself, he spun around to greet whoever it was.

“Hinata-chan!” he said cheerfully, truly glad to see her--well, more glad for the fact that it wasn’t Sasuke or Sakura, but nonetheless he was happy to see her.

“N-Naruto-kun,” the black-haired girl stuttered, her cheeks reddening, “how have you b-been?”

“Eh? Oh, goo-” Naruto cut himself off suddenly and dropped to the ground, his gathered-up cup ramen rolling in different directions as he slid easily under the display table. 

Laying stock still on the floor under the table, Naruto listened to the heavy sound of his heart thudding wildly inside his chest and all but stopped breathing. Wasn’t luck supposed to be on _his_ side today? He’d gotten from his house to the ramen without a problem--why did Sasuke have to show up _now_?! And why _here_?! **_Here!_**

“N-Naruto-ku-”

“ _Shhhhhhh!!_ ” Naruto waved hurriedly at Hinata from under the table, “I’m not here! Sorry, Hinata-chan, I have to go!” he could see Sasuke’s feet from here and the black-haired boy was moving closer. He had to get away.

Quickly, Naruto got on his hands and knees and began to shuffle under the tables; following them as a kind of improvised tunnel in roughly the opposite direction of the one Sasuke was walking in. Hopefully; if the luck that had been helping him this morning would work again, he could slip right passed the other boy, and out of the shop; all without Sasuke noticing him.

Staying still a moment, the blond-haired boy watched carefully as Sasuke walked towards the back of the shop before quickly shuffling out and under the next table and sat still once again. Right, he could see the exit…

Casting another look in Sasuke’s direction, Naruto sucked in a breath as the black-haired boy made his way over to the table Naruto had just been hiding under. Hoping against hope he could make it out, Naruto quickly began to move forwards again. Coming to the end of the table, Naruto stopped a moment and looked back, trying to see where Sasuke was.

 _Oh, shit._ He was right behind him!

He was doomed yet again, why was this happening to him?! He was a nice boy; he’d never done anything wrong…well, nothing _truly_ wrong. Sure, he just happened to be the vessel that contained to Nine Tailed Demon fox but who was going to blame him for that? _The whole village,_ Naruto thought to himself sarcastically.

“S-Sasuke-kun..?” he heard Hinata’s quiet voice, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Eh? Why was she talking to _him_? She _never_ spoke to Sasuke.

“What,” Naruto heard Sasuke growl, his voice clearly laced with irritation. Naruto could just picture the other boy’s expression. He was such an _asshole._

“I-I…I…” the shy girl stuttered out and Naruto felt a growing annoyance towards his asshole of a teammate.

“Umm…h-how a-are you?”

What was she doing? Trying to get herself yelled at? Because if she was she was going the right way about it, that was for sure. Naruto sat there, his scowl deepening as the silence between Sasuke and Hinata lengthened and the girl’s nervous fidgeting became more apparent. Knowing Sasuke he was probably just _staring_ at her, _knowing_ that any kind of eye contact made Hinata nervous. Why on _earth_ had she bothered too…Oh.

… _Oh!_ She was…to help Naruto… Naruto grinned. _Thank you, Hinata-chan!_

Naruto carefully shuffled towards the end of the table, crouching there a moment as he waited for the foot-traffic to abate before making a mad dash for the door.

…And crashed straight into a display of kitty litter.

Naruto cursed loudly as he his feet went out from under him and, flinging one hand out to cushion his fall, watched the display crumble before him, the bags falling to the ground and splitting open; spraying him, and the shop in lemon scented cat litter.

“ _Hey! You!_ ” Naruto heard a male voice shout as the last of the kitty litter tipped and fell to the ground and he immediately paled.

“Oh, crap…” he didn’t dare turn around, there was no way Sasuke _hadn’t_ seen that.

“Just _look_ at what you’ve _done!_ ” cried the shopkeeper as he came to a skidding stop next to Naruto, his eyes wide as he took in the mess.

Damn, he didn’t have time for this. Sasuke was bound to know he was here now; he had to get _out_. “Well it’s not _my fault_!” Naruto yelled back at the stunned man, “you shouldn’t have had it where people could trip over it to begin with! And how dare you blame such a dangerous accident on a _customer_ , from now on I’m shopping somewhere _else_!” and he fled, jumping over the kitty litter strewn across the floor and racing for the door.

“ _Hey! Damn, nuisance! Don’t come back here again!_ ” Naruto heard the words shouted after him and groaned to himself, great, he was banned from the store. Stupid _Sasuke,_ this was all _his_ fault!

 

Naruto swore loudly as he entered his apartment, slamming the door behind him so hard the walls around it vibrated with the impact.

Damn Sasuke! Just…just _damn him!_ After all that, he _still_ didn’t have any cup ramen! He didn’t have _any_ food, not even a crumb!

Naruto sat down heavily at the kitchen table and sighed, glaring at his empty cupboards. He was hungry damn it! He wanted food; he wanted _ramen_! But did he _have_ any? _No!_

 _Damn_ Sasuke! He just _had_ to be there didn’t he?! Just _had_ to show up, ruin Naruto’s plans and stop him from getting even a _single_ packet of ramen! As if not having ramen was bad enough. Now not only did he _not_ have any ramen but he was banned from the store as well (not that he could remember where it was). And he was covered in dust and dirt to boot! And to make matters worse, he, Uzumaki Naruto, had ran away. _Again._

 _Damn, damn,_ **_damn_** Sasuke!

Naruto jumped suddenly, his heart thumping with fright as his apartment door slammed open-

-and Sasuke stomped his way into the kitchen laden down with bags.

The blonde started up out of his chair, his mouth hanging half open as Sasuke, ignoring him completely, started depositing food onto the countertop.

“W-what the _hell_ do you think you’re doing!?” Naruto yelled belatedly, coming back to himself as Sasuke started placing food into his fridge. The blond stood up properly, readying himself for a fight. “You can’t just…just…umm…you can’t…err…” Naruto trailed off, his eyes fixed on the stack of ramen Sasuke was now placing on the counter; his brain slowly blocking out all thoughts until only one remained.

Ramen~

Sasuke paused in his task to look in Naruto’s direction, his mouth curving upwards into a smirk at the blond’s expression. “See something you like, _dobe_?” Sasuke said and deliberately put the ramen into the cupboard, closing it with a snap.

Naruto whimpered and took a small step forward, his hand unconsciously stretching out in front of him toward the cupboard now holding the cups of ramen…and then stopped. He…he couldn’t go over there, not while _Sasuke_ was standing in front of the cupboard. But…but… _ramen_.

Naruto did a rapid rethink. Maybe it was worth it? T-to kiss Sasuke so that he could _finally_ get _something_ to _eat_ … It would be so easy just too… _NO!_ Naruto shook his head to get rid of the traitorous thoughts that were trying so hard to take him over. Not even ramen was worth _that_. _Never!_ He would never give in; there would be no ‘just getting it over with’. And what kind of wimp was he anyway? He should just march over there to _his_ cupboard and _get_ the _damned ramen_.

 

Naruto's eyes narrowed suddenly and he glared over at Sasuke suspiciously…at least, he  _tried_  to glare over at Sasuke but the other boy seemed to have turned into a flesh and blue coloured blur. Blinking a few times, Naruto refocused his eyes and jumped a little as he found himself staring into dark eyes.

Sasuke's face was bare inches from his own and the blond-haired boy suppressed a shudder. As much as he would love to run right now, he had done enough running in the past two days; now, it was time to stand his ground.

Bracing himself, Naruto stared straight back at Sasuke, his expression defiant.

Sasuke smirked.

The two stood there staring each other down, neither of them moving an inch until Sasuke slowly begun to move forward causing Naruto to slowly move back.

 _Ahhh, he's going to kiss me, he going to **kiss me**_! Naruto mentally yelled to himself, deeply regretting his decision to stay.

The blond continued his slow lean backwards, his eyes wide with fear. If he got out of this without severe mental trauma, he was moving as far away as possible; maybe he’d go visit Gaara…

Tilting back even further in the hopes of creating more distance without seemingly backing down, Naruto let out a yelp as he lost his balance; his arms coming up to automatically reach out for something to steady himself. Of course, the 'something' happened to be Sasuke.

Sasuke let out a grunt as Naruto grabbed a hold of his shirt and they both fell to the ground, the dark-haired boy lying on top of a squealing and squirming Naruto.

" _Ahh! Teme, Get off! Get **off**!_ " Naruto yelled, pushing against Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke finally pushed himself up to lean on his hands, his legs still pinning Naruto's to the ground and he stared down at the blond boy, his expression unreadable.

Naruto stilled in his flailing, his panicked mind slowing as he stared at the boy above him.

"W-wha-"

Whatever Naruto was going to say was cut off by a sharp intake of breath from the direction of his front door.

 _Holy **shit**_!

Naruto lifted his head slightly and looked towards the door where he could clearly see a pair of feet.  _Please don't be Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka or the old hag…or-or_

"S-Sasuke-kun…?"

 _Damnit! Of course it would be Sakura!_  The blond looked up at Sasuke again, wondering why the hell the other boy was still on top of him and watched as Sasuke's expression went from unreadable to highly irritated in mere seconds…though he still didn't move an inch from his position sprawled on top of him.

 _What the_ hell _is Sasuke thinking? Sakura is_ right _there! **Right** there!_

For the millionth time in the past few days, Naruto found himself wondering  _why_  it was always him, why the gods seemed to think he deserved this.

Then he came to a decision.

In a sudden movement, Naruto shoved Sasuke off of him and, without glancing back, bolted for his cupboards and flung them open in search of the newly brought ramen. Finding the right cupboard on the first try, Naruto grabbed the closest packet before darting out of the kitchen and straight out the front door, not even sparing Sakura half a glance on his way passed.

 

\--

 

 _This is the stupidest idea I've had all week,_  Naruto thought to himself as he came to a stop and looked around for a moment, searching for a way out of…wherever the hell he currently was.

 _Yup--the stupidest_.

After fleeing (that’s right, _fleeing)_ his apartment Naruto had run clear across the village and right into the surrounding forest though now it was becoming apparent that in his haste to get as far away from his apartment as possible…he had gotten himself lost.

But what was  _really_  getting to him was the fact that while he  _had_  some ramen, he had nothing to cook them with. All he’d wanted this morning was a steaming hot cup of ramen noodles, that was all.

Naruto sighed (again) before sitting down on the forest floor.

He was in the forest… _a_  forest, with nothing but a packet of cup ramen, he didn't even know which part of the forest surrounding the hidden leaf he was in and worst of all--he had absolutely no idea how to get out again.

Naruto frowned as he thought, fingering the ramen in his hands.

He could stay here and wait for someone to find him but it was highly unlikely that  _anyone_  would even think about coming into this part of the forest, you could barely-

"Wait…" Naruto breathed out, his eyes crinkling up as he smiled suddenly.

 _No one_  would come in here, which meant that  _Sasuke_  wouldn't come in here.

Which means…

" _I'm saved!_ " he said the words aloud and proceeded to congratulate himself, for what you may ask? Plain old dumb luck. Yup, he was  _definitely_  a master of that particular art and he’d never been more grateful for the fact.

Now all he needed was shelter.

After a few minutes of thought a grinning Naruto stood up from his place on the ground and, with some quick hand movements, the air around him was filled with small popping sounds as ten exact replicas of himself appeared. The blond smirked at the clones before crossing his arms over his chest authoritatively.

"Alright," Naruto commanded, "hand over your jackets…"

And just like that, Uzumaki Naruto had shelter.

Naruto looked at his 'tent' in admiration, mentally patting himself on the back again. Sure it was bright orange, not to mention the fact that one side of his 'jacket roof' was messily tried to the trunk of a tree while the other side was being propped up by a large, unreadable sign, but all in all, it was…

"Perfect," Naruto said out loud, still grinning as he ducked to enter the newly made 'tent'. Now all he needed was… _food_. The blond glanced up at the darkening sky, his hopes for finding a nearby stream fading as his hunger grew. He stared at the cup ramen in front of him, eyeing it thoughtfully for a minute before picking it up. Turning it over in his hand, the blond-haired ninja slowly began to peel the plastic wrapping off and then the seal, tossing them to the side. He looked at the dried noodles at the bottom of the cup and, taking the flavour sachet out first, broke the noodles down into biteable pieces.

"Hmmm…" Naruto picked up the flavour sachet from beside him and ripped a small hole in it before empting it into the cup.

"What the hell…" he muttered with a shrug of his shoulders and he shook the cup a bit, taking one of the pieces out and sniffing it experimentally before popping it in his mouth. He rolled the piece around his mouth a few times before nodding to himself.

It was…acceptable.

After his less then filling meal Naruto lay back on the forest floor, staring up at the orange 'roof'. Only two more days left and this tradition would be over with for good; he had gotten through the first three days, two more should be no problem--especially now he had found the perfect hiding place.

Naruto yawned as he stretched, putting his hands behind his head, "just two more days…" he mumbled, closing his eyes. And it would all be over…

Naruto's eyes flew open as he had a sudden, horrifying thought.

_What if it went for longer!_

After all, how would he know? It's not like anyone  _specified_  the time frame or anything--he was just going on past history. What if…what if…

" _No,_ " Naruto said firmly, shaking his head, it wasn't going to go for  _longer_ ; it would end in two days. It _had_ to. Banishing the thought from his mind, the blond closed his eyes once again, sleep claiming him within minutes.

 _Naruto stared at the locked doors in dread, hoping the shopkeeper would be back soon. He wasn't even supposed to be in here when the shop was_ open _and now, somehow, he had gotten himself locked in while the place was shut. He glanced around the empty store, taking hesitant steps forward, each soft footfall echoing loudly and the blonde was just about to turn back to try the locked doors again when caught sight of it. A stack of ramen, higher than was probable, climbed the wall ahead; brightly coloured labels beckoned him and he didn’t bother resisting. Naruto made a beeline for it, smiling as he came to a stop before it, gazing at the hoard in complete blissfulness; he reached out to capture his most loved meal when a hand out of nowhere slapped his away._

_"You can't have any," said a familiar voice from his right and Naruto turned to see Sasuke standing beside him._

_"Why not!" he demanded, glaring at the other boy._

_"Because," Sasuke started, moving closer to Naruto, "you haven't given me a kiss yet…"_

_"Why do I have to kiss you?" the blond replied, still glaring at Sasuke, "it's my ramen!"_

_"No… it's_ mine _," Sasuke growled, getting closer and closer to Naruto by the second._

_"Yeah? Then why do I have to kiss you?" the blond said, annoyed._

_"Why…?" the other boy echoed as he brushed his lips over Naruto's, "it's…tradition."_

Naruto sat bolt upright and smacked his head against something solid, falling back down almost immediately and thudding against the ground.

"Owww…" the blond whined, holding his head as he waited for the world to stop spinning. He was about to sit back up again when mumbled curses reached his ears.

What the…

Opening his eyes, Naruto slowly lifted his head off the ground until a shadowed figure came into view; crouching down by his feet.

Why the hell was someone in his apartment?

Naruto thought for a second, trying to recall if he had any guests…no, he didn't--he was avoiding he apartment because of--

"' _Kami’s Sake,_ Naruto, could your skull  _be_ any harder!"

Sasuke.

Wait…Sasuke was…was…

"What's your problem, anyway?"

Here.

No…he couldn't be, Naruto had found the perfect hiding place and no one would find him. This was just a figment of his imagination, yup, that's all—This. Wasn't. Real. Naruto sat up slowly and stared at the dark-haired boy. "You're not here," he stated matter of factly, as if saying it would make it real and he was at least 90-percent sure it wasn’t.

Sasuke stared back at him, "yes I am."

"No, you're not," Naruto said again and to prove his point, reached over and tugged sharply on the other boy’s hair.

 _"What the_ fuck _!"_

Uh-oh.

Sasuke lunged at him and Naruto, his brain still muggy from sleep, didn't move in time and before he knew it he was pinned to the ground.

"S-Sasuke…" the blond stammered, looking like a deer caught in headlights, " I-I, I didn't see you there?" he tired.

"Didn't see me?" Sasuke hissed, irritably, “you pulled my fucking hair,” he stated.

"Did I?" Naruto said, trying to laugh it off, "I didn't mean to?" he tried again.

"Really?" Sasuke murmured dangerously, leaning down towards the blond.

"AHHHH!" Naruto flung his arms up to stop the other boy, pushing him away before scrambling backwards. His back hit the old sign that had been holding up his 'tent' and before he could catch it, the sign fell into him; pushing him forward and straight onto Sasuke.

"Dobe," Sasuke said blandly as the jackets fell onto them, popping away into puffs of vapour before they even had time to settle.

Naruto froze.

 _I'm on top of Sasuke,_  was all Naruto could think, his mind processing the fact slowly and before it could finish there was a loud cough from behind them.

"Ahhh! Sasuke pervert! Get away from me!" Naruto yelled belatedly and scrambled to his feet, his eyes wildly looking around as he tensed, ready to run at a moments notice.

He didn't get the chance.

"Sorry to…err… _interrupt_  you two," Kakashi started, obviously enjoying the moment, "but you seemed to have chosen a rather bad place for your… _meeting_ ," he paused, watching as Sasuke climbed to his feet. "This is an ANBU training area,” he smiled his one-eyed smile, “you're both trespassing," he went on happily, walking over to the sign that had been one of Naruto's 'walls'. He wiped it a few times until they could both clearly see 'NO TRESPASSING' written in red letters and then he was gone in a puff of smoke.

Naruto stared at the spot Kakashi had been occupying a moment ago; the older man’s words echoing in his mind.

_Great, now where am I supposed to go?_

 

 

**End Chapter**


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: If you see an unattended bag, go up and talk to her

 

Naruto watched Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, making sure to keep the other boy in his sight. He didn't want him trying anything funny…plus he didn't know the way out and Sasuke seemed to know exactly where he was going. But still, Sasuke was up to something. Naruto lagged behind slightly, still keeping his eyes trained on Sasuke. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that Sasuke was  _trying_  to kiss him; after yesterday the idea wasn't so farfetched. He was just always  _there_ , like he was just  _waiting_  for the opportunity, or showing up to create one. It was most definitely not chance that had lead the dark-haired boy into the ANBU training area that was for sure. But this was  _Sasuke_  and he just didn't  _do_  this sort of thing.

Did he?

Naruto dragged his feet, making small tracks in old dried up leaves that littered the ground as he thought.

He knew better then to ask the other boy because he wouldn't get a straight answer and he wasn't really sure he  _could_  ask. Lately, when it came to the other boy, he was lucky if he got out an entire sentence; hell, he was lucky if he stuck around long enough to even attempt speech. But then there was also the question of  _why_. Why would Sasuke want to kiss him?

Naruto snorted.

Why would  _Sasuke_  want to kiss  _him_?

The blond boy laughed out loud. No, he couldn't even  _try_  thinking of an answer for that because the question itself was far too ridiculous. Naruto shook the idea from his mind and focused on the well-trodden path in front of him. He looked up at Sasuke, jumping a little when he found the other boy glancing back at him.

He quickly looked back at the ground, staring at the tracks he had made…at least five minutes ago. Frowning, Naruto traced the tracks with his eyes until he couldn't see them anymore then checked the ones behind him. They were identical. His eyebrow began to twitch and he snapped his head up to glare at Sasuke, "do you even  _know_  where you're going!" he demanded, "or is your head so far up your ass that you haven't noticed we've been  _walking around in **circles**_?" Naruto bit out, frustration flowing off him in waves--he could have been at home with his (cooked) ramen  _ages_  ago.

Sasuke looked at him briefly, the same unreadable expression from earlier on his face, before he turned and continued down the path.

"Oi! Did you  _hear_  me, asshole?" Naruto yelled as he jogged to catch up with the other boy.

When Sasuke didn't responded the blonde dove in front of him, effectively stopping the other boy in his tracks.

"What's your problem!" Naruto snapped, glaring at the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke took a step towards him, his eyes narrowing but he said nothing.

Naruto stepped back automatically, his gaze turning into one of confusion when the other boy continued to stay silent. What was he playing at? Giving him the silent treatment was something Sasuke had done when they were Genin and as far as Naruto knew they were way past the silent treatment now. If they had a problem with each other they used their fists.

Naruto took another step back as Sasuke stepped towards him, hardly noticing the action.

And it wasn't like the other boy to be so quiet. Sure, he wasn't exactly the person you would actively seek out for a conversation but he at least answered when he was spoken to. Something was up.

Naruto's thoughts were washed from his mind when his back hit a hard trunk of a tree and alarm bells started to ring in his head.

Sasuke had backed him up against the tree--and he hadn't even noticed.

Naruto swore.

"Yes, no, yes and  _you,_ " Sasuke said quietly as he leaned in towards Naruto, his lips twitching up into a smirk.

"W-what?"

"The answers to your questions, dobe."

"My…" Naruto thought back to his earlier questions, trying to fit the other boys' answers to them but before he could even start he felt the other boy's warm breath against his cheek. Instinct took over.

Suddenly ducking down, the blonde dived under Sasuke's arm and ran for it, heading towards a narrow break in the trees and only  _just_  managing to squeeze through it. Leaving a few scrapes of his t-shirt behind him, Naruto continued to run, speeding up when he suddenly realised he was in familiar territory. The Village was just through the trees…

And so was the hill. You know--the one he just fell down.

Naruto lay still for a moment, almost literally eating dirt as he lay at the bottom of the small drop and concentrated on breathing. His heart was thudding in his chest and he could hear the sound of his blood rushing through his veins, roaring in his ears. He'd panicked. He'd damn well panicked…over Sasuke. Again. Fuck.

Once he was sure he had himself under control, Naruto pulled himself to his hands and knees and looked around, his feeling of triumph that he recognised where he was dampened by his annoyance at himself.

\--

Naruto collapsed into the chair, his arms falling limply at his sides.

Sasuke  _was_  trying to kiss him.

This was worse than he ever could have imagined, it was bad when the kisses were accidental but now he had to deal with the other boy  _trying_  to kiss him--as in, he would be doing it on purpose!

Naruto sat up a little and leaned his elbows on the table, his hands cradling his head. This was just far beyond anything Naruto could fathom; none of it made sense, Sasuke didn't go around trying to kiss people and if he did, Naruto was sure  _he_  wouldn't be the other boys first choice…or second, or third, or fourth-

 _He_ could _just be messing with me…_

But this just  _had_  to be disturbing Sasuke as well, he couldn't  _really_  want to kiss him.

Right?

Naruto sighed; this was giving him a headache. All he wanted to do was eat some ramen and then, finally, get some much-needed uninterrupted, dreamless sleep.

But of course, he didn't  _have_  any ramen because somebody--

Wait…he  _did_  have ramen!

Naruto stood up suddenly and raced towards his cupboard, flinging it open as he came to stop in front of it.

 _Ramen._  The blond grinned, snatched out three cups and set them on the counter. First he was going to eat till he couldn't eat any more…and then he was going to sleep.

When Naruto woke up the next morning--he had a new plan. All the plans he had had so far had failed him, but this time it would all work out.

He was calling in a favour.

After a quick shower Naruto headed out of his apartment, locking the door as he went because if this worked, he wouldn't be coming home tonight.

Not wanting to waste any time, Naruto leaped onto the nearest rooftop and speed across it--leaping onto the next a moment later.

Continuing along the path of rooftops Naruto caught a flash of movement to his left and, slowing his speed down a bit he tracked the movement before making a sudden leap towards it.

"Got ya!" Naruto said triumphantly as he caught the person around the waist, tackling them to the ground.

Grinning, Naruto pulled himself up to stand. "You know Konohamaru, you're getting better," he laughed, helping the younger boy to his feet, "but you'll never be abl-"

Naruto was cut off as the other boy pounced on him, catching him off guard and knocking them both to the ground.

Now, it was Konohamaru's turn to grin, "hehehe…"

"What the hell!" Naruto yelled, pushing the other boy off him, "that doesn't count!" he continued, glaring at the still grinning Konohamaru.

"Sorry!" the black-haired boy said, not sounding it in the least.

Naruto growled softly, dusting himself off, "…yeah, yeah…"

"Ne, Naruto-nii-chan?"

"Yeah?" the blond said, looking up to meet the other boy's gaze only to find Konohamaru staring right past him. "What?" he asked, following his gaze.

_Sasuke._

"Nice to see you, gotta go, bye!" Naruto said in a rush, leaping back onto the rooftop and speeding off once again.

_That was close._

With his new plan, Naruto had also come to another decision. His pride could go to hell. If he saw Sasuke--he was just going to run no matter what. He hadn’t dwelled much on the idea of Sasuke _trying_ to kiss him because really, even though all signs pointed to it being true; and those signs were bolded and underlined and lit up like santas workshop at Christmas—he just couldn’t get his head around it. It didn’t make sense and didn’t _fit_. So fleeing and hiding till the whole thing was over seemed a safe bet.

Coming up to the Village centre, Naruto swept his eyes over the surrounding buildings, making sure he had a clear path ahead of him before continuing his way towards the Hokage offices.

He was almost there!

Making the final leap, Naruto landed in front of the main entrance and quickly made his way inside; stopping when he came to Tsunade's office to calm his breathing then, as though he owned the place, strolled into her office.

The doors closed behind him with a soft click and Naruto looked around the room, noting the Hokage's empty chair before walking towards the desk.

"Oi! Old Hag?" the blond called out, walking around the desk to sit languidly in the large chair.  _This will be my chair one day,_  Naruto thought with a grin, leaning back and resting his head against the soft backing of the chair; swaying from side to side as his imagination continued his thought. He started slightly at the sound of quiet as they voices reached his ears, breaking through his daydream. They were coming from the balcony. Leaning back further Naruto strained his ears, trying to make out the voices.

Old Hag…and…

Damn, he couldn't quite hear the other person…

Continuing to lean back, Naruto hooked his feet under the edge of the desk to stop him from falling and turned his head towards the opening of the balcony where he could clearly see two shadows…moving towards him.

"Thank-you, Hokage-sama," said an all too familiar voice.

" _What!_ " the exclamation was out of Naruto's mouth before he could stop it, but it wouldn't have mattered if he could have stopped it or not because just as the surprised sound exited his mouth, his feet slipped from the edge of the table and he, and the chair, tumbled over backwards, landing out on the balcony in a sprawl right at Sasuke and the old hag's feet.

"Dobe,"

Naruto flipped over backwards into a crouch before standing to face Tsunade, a look of betrayal on his face, "what is  _he_  doing here!" the blond demanded, pointing at Sasuke though he didn't turn to look at him.

"Naruto, how  _lovely_  to see you," Tsunade said pleasantly, ignoring his question completely, "did you need something?" she continued, walking around her desk to stand on the other side. She motioned to the chair still lying on the ground. "Fix that, would you?"

Naruto stared at her. Why was she being so… _normal_?

Pushing the chair back up, Naruto pointedly ignored Sasuke and walked around the desk to stand in front of the Hokage, "I want a mission," he stated, crossing his arms over his chest and putting on his best 'you don't get a say in this' expression.

Tsunade smiled. "Really?" she asked, her eyes shining with something close to mischief.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in suspicion and he stole a quick glance at Sasuke--who was smirking.

His suspicion grew.

"Yes…"

Tsunade's smile grew as well. "Any mission?" she questioned, her eyes flicking over in Sasuke's direction for a second before coming back to rest on him.

Naruto's suspicion was confirmed.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Naruto began walking towards the door, "…damn it, of all the people…" he muttered tiredly as he left, resisting his overwhelming urge to slam the door behind him.

This was just perfect. His plan failed--before he could even really  _start_  it. He just wanted it to be over, this entire week, god--the entire tradition--he just wanted it to  _end_.

_Two more days._

Naruto scowled at the thought. It was still far too long in his opinion.

The blond slowly walked down the middle of one of the many streets of Konoha, occasionally stepping out of the way of random shoppers, lost in thought. If he couldn't get a mission, what was there left to do? Hiding didn't seem to work--no matter where he was Sasuke seemed to always find him. If only he could disappear…just for the rest of today and tomorrow…

"Oh…." Naruto's eyes lit up suddenly as his mind quickly came up with his next plan.

"That could work," he said, a slow smile gracing his lips.

Looking around him a moment the blond quickly dived behind a nearby stall and, with some quick hand movements, said the words that had been the downfall of many.

"Sexy no Jutsu!"

 _This_  plan was perfect. Absolutely perfect. This time it absolutely  _had_  to be.

Naruto looked down at his new female body, examining the series of extremely feminine bulges under his clothes, and felt his mouth widen in a grin. Like this he  _could_  disappear for two days. Like  _this_  Sasuke would  _never_ even  _dream_  of bothering him. Like  _this_  Naruto was  _perfectly safe_.

 _This_  was the  _ultimate perfect plan_!

\--

Rock Lee crossed the street quickly, dodging in between an old woman taking her granddaughter for a walk and a young woman carrying groceries and in a manful display of restraint, managed to resist his urge to offer to help the woman with her groceries as he looked around quickly for his escaped quarry.

He'd been following Naruto, on and off, for four days now in an attempt to get Sasuke into a position where he could challenge him to another of their perpetually interrupted fights. He'd gained in strength and he'd gained in prowess, it was only right that he now challenged the last of Konoha's Uchiha clan in a manly battle to decide who of them was the strongest.

But to do that he needed to find said Uchiha, and to do  _that_  Lee had been following Naruto, figuring that where one was, the other would soon follow--and in that idea he had been right. Just a little  _too_  right for his liking, though.

It seemed that no matter where Naruto went, Sasuke was. If Naruto went to the shop, Sasuke was in it; if Naruto walked down the street, Sasuke was walking down it too; if Naruto went camping in a restricted ANBU training ground, Sasuke was in the same place. To Lee it looked suspicious.

He admitted that, being an outsider, he didn't know if, perhaps, it could just be some odd brand of training the two boys had come up with, but with the way Naruto had seemed to be growing more stressed as the days progressed, Lee had come to the conclusion that it probably  _wasn't_  training.

In fact, he was sure it wasn't something Naruto wanted at all; for some reason Sasuke seemed to be tormenting the blond boy, following him everywhere and making sure Naruto knew he was doing it. Therefore, Lee had made a decision; he would use his newly found prowess and fighting skills to protect Naruto from whatever Sasuke's nefarious design happened to be.

Finally spotting a tuft of sunshine blond hair, Lee dodged through the intervening people and leapt in front of the orange-clad person, striking a pose as he stopped. "Naruto-kun!" the word was a declaration, "I have decided that…" he paused suddenly and then dropped his pose and bowed slightly, "Oh, I'm sorry miss, I thought you were someone I knew."

The blonde girl glared at him fiercely, "what do you want, Fuzzy-eyebrows!"

Lee blinked.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" the girl continued, oblivious to Lee's startled expression, "and don't talk to me, Sasuke's sure to find me if people are drawing attention! Buzz off!"

Lee blinked again as the girl stomped around him and continued her march down the street. It took a moment for his thoughts to form coherently, but when they did it was with the burn of understanding. Naruto was using henge in an attempt to confuse his enemy, using a form so completely different from his own as a tactic to make himself invisible.

" _What a perfect plan!_ " Lee yelled suddenly, startling the people walking around him, and then turned and bounded off down the street, after the blonde girl that was really Naruto. Whatever Sasuke was planning, Lee would help protect Naruto from it no matter what, or he'd climb to the top of Konoha's tallest tree and do a full training cycle twice without falling off!

\--

Naruto glared at Lee's back, his irritation growing as the other boy used one of his 'secret signals' to show that the road ahead was clear.

At first, it had almost seemed like a good idea to have the overly enthusiastic boy around--in fact, for a while there, it had been fun. But now, now it was just down right irritating. When the other boy had declared his plan of protection to Naruto he had made it sound much less… _annoying_. After the first half an hour, Lee had come up with serval different hand signals to let Naruto know if Sasuke was near, whether or not the road a head was clear of 'enemy spies' and, for some reason, a signal to let him know if Lee spotted an animal in need of help.

That one, he just didn't get.

A few times the other boy had tackled him to the ground, claiming he had sensed danger and then, to top it all off, after the first few hours Lee had started a running commentary on everything he saw.  _Every_ thing. And when the two had stopped for a quick lunch, an old lady had mistaken them as a couple--a  _couple_ , telling them how great it was to see such love in the younger generation. She had even had the audacity to  _wink_  at him--telling him he had a 'great catch' and told him not to let Lee slip through his fingers.

Naruto almost wished Sasuke would come along and kidnap him, just so he could get away. But they hadn't seen Sasuke at all, though Naruto could swear he was being watched; he could feel it, that little prickle--Sasuke was definitely nearby.

It was late in the afternoon now and the two boys were heading back to the ramen stand for an early dinner, Lee leading the way. As they neared a corner, Lee motioned for him to stop before cautiously stepping towards it and, using quick reflexes that had been expertly honed from years of training, poked his head around the side of the building and then dodged back again. Shaking his head slightly he gesticulated vaguely at the blonde; it took Naruto a moment to identify the gesture as the one Lee had assigned to 'enemy spies'.

Naruto rolled his eyes, allowing Lee to drag him bodily down the street in the opposite direction before forcibly shoving him down a small side road.

"Phew!" Lee let out before turning to Naruto, his eyes shining with concern. "Are you okay Naruto-kun?" he asked, already looking him over for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine!" Naruto snapped, stepping away from the other boy. "What was it  _this_  time!" he demanded, thinking back over the earlier incidents--all of which had been false alarms.

"Shikamaru and Ino were right around the corner…I don't understand how they could have found us…" Lee replied, Naruto's harsh demeanor not affecting him at all. "It seems I may have underestimated our enemies," he paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "But never fear my good friend!" he declared suddenly, startling the other boy, "I shall not make the same mistake twice!"

Naruto stared at Lee flatly, the expression looking most unbecoming on his female face. "Right. Can we go now?" the blond asked, already walking down the small road.

"Wait! I haven't secured the street yet!" Lee yelled as he ran after the other boy.

Several minutes later the pair arrived at the ramen stand, Naruto's mood lightening considerably just by looking at the place, but before he could take a seat Lee stepped in front of him, holding his arm out to stop Naruto from moving forward.

"Wait, I'll check for traps," the green-clad boy stated and carefully approached the stand.

Naruto's eyebrow began to twitch as he watched the dark-haired boy put pressure on each of the stools before quickly stepping away from them, as if expecting them to blow up.

"What kind of traps could there possibly be?" Naruto said in an annoyed tone, crossing his arms over his sizable chest.

"Sasuke is a very well trained ninja; he could have set any number of traps," Lee paused, his eyes narrowing as the old ramen man stepped up behind the counter, ready to take their orders.

"The usual?" he asked Naruto, a fond smile on his face.

"Yup!" the blond said happily, stepping forward to take a seat only to be tackled to the ground yet again.

Struggling for air, Naruto roughly pushed the other boy off him, "what the  _hell_  do yo-"

Naruto was cut off, Lee's face suddenly inches away from his own. "This could be a trap," he whispered furtively and slowly helped the other boy to his feet before turning to the ramen man, his expression one of deep suspicion.

"What kind of ramen do you sell?" he asked, his tone distrustful and before the old man had a chance to answer, the dark-haired boy let out a string of questions. "What are the specials? Do you cook the ramen with oil or water? How long have you worked here? When were you born? What is your name?  _Are you working for Uchiha-kun_!"

Silence fell as Lee finished his questioning and eyed the old man expectantly.

"Ahh…"

Naruto stared at Lee a moment before smacking the other boy over the head. Hard. "What is  _wrong_  with you?" the blond snapped, something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately, "he does  _not_  work for bloody Sasuke! He was just taking our orders!"

Lee stood his ground a moment longer but gave in after a few minutes, bowing and apologising until the old man was out of sight, "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," he said sincerely, taking a seat. "I was just taking precautions, it would be easy for Sasuke to infiltrate such a place--we must be careful."

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto said, also taking a seat, "but I doubt even he would set traps--besides, what would be the point of setting a trap here?" he scoffed, resting his elbows on the counter.

Lee sat up a little straighter, his eyes shining oddly. "The point?" he echoed, his voice taking on a teacher-like quality, "Naruto-kun, your negligence towards this amazes me! Do you realise how easily Sasuke could have gotten hold of you by setting a simple trap here?" he paused to look at the blond with disbelieving eyes before he began listing off on his fingers exactly how the other boy could have been caught. "First of all, the old man _could_  have been Sasuke. Right now he would be poisoning your ramen! Second, the chairs! You didn't even think twice before sitting down--for all you know, they could have been booby-trapped! And thri-"

Naruto stopped Lee’s list with a wave of his hand, "what could he possibly have done to the chairs? Come on--you're ove-"

Before Naruto could finish Lee had pulled the stool out from under him, causing the blond to land painfully on the ground.

The green-clad ninja waved the stool in Naruto's face--his expression gravely serious. "This could have been rigged with some kind of smoke bomb--Sasuke would have grabbed you and I'd have been none the wiser! For all we know he could have put some sort of Jutsu on it and you could have been stuck here--like some sort of lamb to the saluter! Why…Sasuke could  _be_ the stool!" Lee stopped his rant abruptly, staring at the stool with distrustful eyes.

Naruto's eyebrow began to twitch yet again as Lee continued his examination of the stool, his eyes narrowed as he experimentally poked at it.

"Oh, for the love of…" Naruto stood up, absentmindedly dusting off his pants as he turned to give a small wave to the ramen man before glancing back at Lee, who was still deeply immersed in his task of uncovering the stool-Sasuke.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Again. Lee was just far too much trouble sometimes, Naruto decided as he slowly stepped away from the ramen stand; he had plenty of food at home.

Walking backwards to make sure Lee didn't become aware of his escape, Naruto paused slightly when he came to the side road he and Lee had taken and glanced back at the stand as the dark-haired boy began to shake the stool, causing passers-by to stop and stare. Turning to move down the road, the blonde's eyes widened as a cool hand was suddenly pressed against his mouth cutting off his ability to speak before he was roughly pulled into the side road, his back meeting with the solid concrete of one of the buildings. Bracing himself for a fight, Naruto made to push back against his attacker when the hand over his mouth disappeared, making him start slightly. Looking up to get a glimpse of whoever it was the blonde's view was obscured by a puff of smoke and Naruto glance down at himself in something akin to shock. He was a boy again.

"Eh…?" was all Naruto could say as he continued to look down at himself.  _What the hell…_

"Nice try,  _dobe_."

Naruto's head whipped up at the words and his mouth fell open to form a small 'o'.

 _Sasuke. Of course it would be_ him. As if his day couldn't get any worse, did Sasuke have to ruin  _all_  his plans? First Sasuke, then Sasuke again and again and then Lee and now Sasuke yet again, why did he bother? Naruto just wanted it to be—

" _Over_ ," he said out loud, closing his eyes. Why couldn't it just  _be_  over? Naruto was sure he didn't  _want_  to kiss the other boy but at this point, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make--just so he could have his sanity back if nothing else. Reopening his eyes Naruto stared at Sasuke, slowly assessing him in his mind. The other boy wasn't all that bad to look at he supposed, and it's not like he had to  _enjoy_  the kiss--he just had to get it over with. Yeah, like it was a mission or something. Just one more thing he had to get out of the way, it didn't have to mean anything.

It was just a kiss.

Naruto took a deep breath and tried to look the other boy in the eyes, failing that, he settled instead to stare at a point just past Sasuke's head.

"Okay," was all he could say, his eyes flickering to Sasuke's for a split second before quickly looking away again.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he moved towards him slightly, "what?"

Naruto mumbled something unintelligible, still concentrating on the wall behind Sasuke.

"Stop mumbling, dobe."

"I said," Naruto snapped out finally meeting the other boy's gaze, "just get it  _over_  with," he repeated forcefully, now glaring at Sasuke.

"Get what over with?"

"You know what I mean!"

Sasuke returned Naruto's glare and stepped towards him, "no, I don't."

" _Yes_ , you do!" Naruto said almost desperately, refusing to flat out say it.

" _No_ , dobe, I don't."

"You  _know_  what I mean!"

Sasuke didn't answer him this time; instead, he simply  _glared_.

"Damn it! Just get it over with! I'm sick of this whole thing; I just want to  _get it over with_!" Naruto practically screamed in Sasuke's face, his frustration at the situation taking over, "just  _do_  it so I can go  _hom-_ "

Naruto was cut off suddenly as Sasuke slammed his fist against the wall beside the blonde’s head, a murderous look on his face.

"S-Sasuke…" Naruto said uneasily, his frustration ebbing away at the look Sasuke was giving him.

"You really  _are_  an idiot," the dark-haired boy growled out before shoving away from the wall and stalking down the small road--not once looking back.

"What?" Naruto said to no one in particular as he watched Sasuke's retreating form disappear around the corner.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: If you have a twelve-inch nose, does it then become a foot?

 

The last rays of sunlight slowly disappeared behind the mountains surrounding the Hidden leaf and lights flickered on within the many buildings while late night shoppers scurried to and fro, hoping to escape the oncoming cold. The noise level of the village calmed to a low hum before dying out completely as the night's air was filled with the sounds of awakening insects.

In one of the many side roads of Konoha sat a boy, his legs drawn up in front of him and his back against the wall; his blue eye's staring unseeingly at the ground. The boy had been sitting in that exact position for the past five hours, seemingly unaware of the cool night's air or the silence that now surrounded him. The boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto and he had  _issues_. Well, one particular issue anyway.

Uchiha Sasuke.

\--

Sasuke sneezed, the action causing him to pause for a brief moment before he continued with what he had been doing; moving his dinner dishes from the table to the sink and getting angry at Naruto.

Not that the other boy was around to be angry  _at_ , but Sasuke was doing it anyway. And for once the blonde idiot even deserved it.

The last week had been confusing for Sasuke. At first he hadn't been able to figure out what Naruto's problem was, it had seemed that the other boy had just woken up one morning and decided to go stark raving mad. Then they had stood watch together and Naruto had mentioned the rabbit.

Sasuke had to admit that he didn't immediately click; it was hard to follow the same thought pattern as Naruto, but the second Naruto had called him a pervert it had hit him. The reason Naruto was acting so bi-polar and panicking over the most innocent of events…was because he was afraid that Sasuke was going to kiss him.

Not without reason, of course. Just like Naruto, Sasuke was aware of their apparent 'tradition'; however, unlike Naruto, Sasuke wasn't worried about it. In fact, he felt exactly the opposite of worried. He was so  _not_ worried about it that it could only be described as  _supportive_.

Sasuke was  _very_  supportive; and this year, once he'd figured out what the  _dobe_ 's problem was, he was also  _actively_  supportive.

However that hadn't gone exactly as planned. It had seemed to be working at first…but then Naruto had decided to use the  _sexy no jutsu_  to combat him--Sasuke hadn't counted on that and had spent the entire day trailing behind Naruto and Lee trying to think of a way to get Naruto alone. The  _jutsu_  had been a dirty trick, Naruto would have had to know that there was no way Sasuke could be seen in public with a girl, even a girl that was actually a boy, without raising the ire of every teenage girl in Konoha. Plus there had been Rock Lee to deal with; the boy was careful, even if he was fanatically hyperactive over the entire affair.

The day had proved to be frustrating. With Naruto being protected by Lee, Sasuke hadn't been able to make even the slightest move and, just like Naruto, he was aware that their time limit would soon be up. Sasuke wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea that this year could spell the end of their 'tradition'; if Naruto avoided it this year, then there wouldn't  _be_  a next year, and if there wasn't going to be a next year Sasuke wanted it to be because the  _dobe_  had finally figured out how he felt, not because he'd somehow managed to slip out of it.

If Naruto slipped out of it…then the chance that the blonde would ever figure things out went from 'slim' to 'none'. Sasuke wasn't prepared to accept a zero percent success ratio.

Or, at least, earlier that day he hadn't been. After what had happened later though, after he'd managed to get Naruto away from Lee and had dispelled that stupid  _jutsu_ … Of all the things Naruto could have said, it had been a plea to simply get it over with. To kiss him; to end it. He hadn't figured it out at  _all_. Not even a little bit. No matter how many little hints, and sometimes  _large_  hints, Sasuke had thrown at him, Naruto hadn't realised, at  _all_ , that 'getting it over with' was the one thing Sasuke wouldn't do. That kind of reasoning; that kind of decision… That wasn't what Sasuke wanted.

But obviously what Sasuke wanted wasn't along the same lines as what Naruto wanted.

Sasuke stared down at the dirty dishes lying in his sink, his expression warring between anger, frustration and resignation. If Naruto wanted nothing more than to simply have the week over with, then now, for the final day, Sasuke would oblige him and stay away. For the final day of their tradition, Naruto would have a completely and utterly Sasuke-free day.

\--

Naruto replayed the incident with Sasuke over and over in his mind as he stared at the ground, trying to find a reason for the other boy's outburst and failing. It just didn't make sense. He hadn't said anything that granted a reaction like that, if anything, Sasuke should have laughed in his face at his cowardice. But Sasuke had been  _angry_  with him, really angry.

Going over what he had said to the other boy hadn't helped either, he hadn't said anything hurtful and even if he had Sasuke just wasn't the kind of person who was easily offended.

It just  _didn't make sense_.

Lifting his head up slightly, the blond groaned at the stiffness in his neck, shifting his head from side to side to stretch his muscles and finally noticing the darkness around him as he did.

"Eh..?"

When had it gotten so late?

Standing up slowly, Naruto groaned yet again before gradually stretching out his now aching body and a few minutes later, began his stiff walk home.

Tomorrow would be the last day of their tradition and Naruto could finally relax, not having to look over his shoulder anymore…

Naruto screwed his face up at the unexpected feeling the thought provoked. He should be happy, right? That it was coming to an end?

"Yeah, happy. I  _am_  happy…it's just…"

Naruto slowed his steps, remembering the look Sasuke had given him earlier. He felt like he was  _missing_  something, like he wasn't seeing something that was right there--he wasn't seeing the big picture. Hell, he wasn't sure if he was seeing any picture!

Running a hand through his hair in frustration, Naruto picked up his pace again as he neared his apartment building all the while trying to distract himself with the thought of a hot meal once he reached home.

Yeah, he would eat, sleep and then figure all this out in the morning.

"Good plan…" the blond murmured to himself as he climbed the steps, pulling his keys out of his pocket as he went, "eat, sleep and then…" Naruto paused as he came to the top step."…Sakura-chan?" he said in surprise, watching as said pink-haired girl got to her feet from where she had previously been sitting--right outside Naruto's door, "w-what are you doing here?"

Sakura gave Naruto a hard look, "I thought you'd never come back," she said somewhat irritably, stepping back so Naruto could unlock his door. "I was wondering…" she began, her expression changing to one of uncertainty, "wondering if, maybe we could…talk?" she said and flashed Naruto a relived smile as he held the door open for her.

"Thanks."

Naruto followed Sakura in, shutting the door behind him, a frown marring his face.

_This can't be good._

"So…" Naruto let out, shifting uncomfortably in his chair at his kitchen table and he glanced at Sakura across from him, watching as she idly tapped her fingernails on the table, "you…err…. wanted to talk?" he said awkwardly.

Sakura started and pulled her hand off the table to rest in her lap, "yeah…" she agreed, looking away for a moment, "I wanted to…it's silly, but I…and it would make sense…I just wanted—"

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned uncertainly, eyeing the pink-haired girl nervously.

Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reopening them to look directly at Naruto, "what is your relationship with Sasuke-kun?" she asked in a shaking voice, though her expression was one of determination.

Naruto stared at her.

“Umm…” he was tempted to laugh, in fact he almost did but with one look at his team mates unwavering gaze Naruto squashed the urge down; instead thinking about the question as seriously as Sakura had asked it.

What was his relationship with Sasuke?

Naruto pictured the other boy in his mind.

…What  _was_  his relationship with Sasuke?

"We're…friends?" yeah, they were friends. Well, sometimes they leaned more towards rivalry than anything else but you could call them friends. They were…best friends maybe?

Naruto furrowed his brows and thought back over their 'history'. No, 'best friends' wasn't exactly right. They didn't really… _share_. Anything. Not with each other, they were more…

"… _Just_  friends?" Sakura's voice sounded, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Just friends?" Naruto echoed, still trying to find a word that could describe himself and Sasuke.

 _Just_  friends…that didn't sound right at all. They weren't  _just_  friends, they were… _something_. They had this…this  _thing_  that was… _important_.

The blond started suddenly as he was enveloped in an awkward hug from behind.

"I'm so glad!" Sakura said, her voice showing her obvious relief and she squeezed him once before letting go, "I don't know what I was thinking really…well, I mean, I've been watching you guys lately, the way you just always seem to end up in the same place and today I could've sworn he was following you and…I don't know. I thought that you were…" she trailed off, making vague hand gestures at him, "…that you were… _you know_."

Naruto stared up at Sakura as she attempted to hold back a laugh. Apparently, he  _didn't_  know.

"When I saw you two at the gates that night," she continued, oblivious to Naruto's confusion, "and Sasuke was…" she shuddered, "… _fighting_  with you, it kind of… _clicked_  you know?"

 _No,_  Naruto thought tiredly.  _I don't._

"And I wanted to talk to you about it but…when I came over, you and Sasuke were… _fighting_  again and that's when I really started to think about it, about you and him," Sakura paused, her eyebrows drawing together, "you're always together, whether it's training, missions or just…just  _any_ thing, if I wanted to speak to Sasuke all I'd have to do was find  _you_ , you know? Especially when team seven was broken up…and you, you  _know_ him. I mean,  _I_  know him, obviously, but you're the only one he really talks too, even if half the time it is just banter, you get under his skin like no one else can--he can't ignore you. Without you, he-" she stopped suddenly, staring down at Naruto. "It just would've made sense," she said quietly, "if you two had of been…t-together."

_Together?_

"It's late, I-I, I should go."

 _Together,_ together?

"Thanks, Naruto."

 _As in,_   _to_ ge _ther_?

The door clicked shut quietly and silence enveloped the room.

Naruto sat in the chair, his shoulders slumped and his head spinning. Sakura had thought that he and Sasuke were together?

"…together…" no, she can't have meant what he thought she meant. Together could mean any number of things…like, something other than what he thought it meant. Because they weren't. Together that is. They were so not together in fact that anyone who thought they were had to be insane.

And what did she mean it would have made sense! It didn't make any semblance of sense! They were…they were  _them!_

"We're  _not_  together," Naruto said out loud, somewhat defensibly.

 _Wait…we're_ not _together!_

"Arg!" Naruto let his head drop onto the table with a dull thud. No, they were not together--so he didn't need to spend half the night convincing himself that they weren't. Because they  _really_  weren't.

Naruto slowly dragged himself out of the chair and walked towards his bedroom, any thoughts of eating gone from his mind--he just wanted to  _sleep_.

Flopping down onto his bed, the blond slowly removed his jacket and climbed under the covers, all but burying his head into his pillow…

" _Of course he can ignore me_!" Naruto bit out suddenly, "he does it all the bloody time!" he continued, shifting onto his back and glaring at his roof. "And he doesn't  _talk_  to me. Not about important stuff anyway," the blond said in a huff, shifting again--this time onto his side so he was facing the window. "I don't  _know_  him--he's just an asshole I have the misfortune of…knowing," he finished lamely, punching his pillow in an attempt to make it more comfortable, "would've made sense my ass…it's not my fault we're always together, we were on the same team so it makes sense we’d pair up for missions and it would be stupid if we  _didn't_  train together--it works that way," Naruto mumbled, shifting yet again. "And it's not always. We're not  _always_  together--only when we  _have_  to be…Sakura doesn't know what she's talking about."

Naruto moved onto his back again and returned to glaring at the roof.

_"What is your relationship with Sasuke-kun?"_

Something important…

That was all he could come up with,  _something important_.

What did that even mean?

_"It just would've made sense,"_

Naruto shut his eyes tightly in the hopes of shutting his off his mind as well.

_"If you two had of been…t-together."_

It wasn't working.

_"Without you, he-"_

"Without me he,  _what_?" Naruto said in frustration, kicking out at nothing.  _Without me he would...?_  "Probably save a  _lot_  of money," he said after a moment's thought, thinking back to the many bowls of ramen the other boy had brought him--at times grudgingly but all the same…

But he doubted that was what Sakura was going to say.

Sighing, Naruto relaxed his face, his eyes fluttering open before closing again. It would all make sense in the morning…

_"…the way you just always seem to end up in the same place…could've sworn he was following you…"_

_"We're…friends?"_

_Something important._

_"…at the gates that night…clicked you know?"_

_"…when I came over, you and Sasuke were_  fighting _…You're always together…"_

_"…under his skin like no one else can--he can't ignore you…"_

_"…get it over with!"_

_"You really are an idiot."_

Naruto shot up in bed, his eyes wide, "I really  _am_  an idiot."

\--

Naruto walked resolutely down the street, the previous night’s epiphany still at the forefront of his mind. The blond had had an almost sleepless night, only managing a few hours’ sleep in the wee hours of the morning and as soon as the sun had risen in the sky he was up and ready; rushing through an almost non-existent shower and limiting his breakfast to one singular pack of cup ramen before heading out the door.

He was Sasuke hunting.

Following his realization last night, everything the dark-haired boy had done this week started to make sense and Naruto had spent half the night piecing everything together--the end conclusion being that not only was he had idiot, but Sasuke was as well.

And he, Uzumaki Naruto, was going to tell him so—

\--as soon as he found him.

Yes, that was his first plan of action--finding him. He'd thought maybe he could just stop by the other boys' house but…he didn't know where it was. So now, he was looking for someone who did.

Walking a little faster, Naruto rounded the corner and found exactly who he was looking for.

Ino. The blond girl was bound to know where Sasuke lived.

"Hi." Naruto said awkwardly, watching as the girl turned away from the flowers she had been arranging to face him, a curious expression on her face.

"Naruto?" she said in mild surprise, wiping her hands on her apron, "what brings you here?" she went on, picking up a rather ugly looking bunch of flowers and walking into the shop.

"Well, I was just wondering if you-"

"I know!" Ino interrupted him suddenly, a smile breaking across her face, "got a hot date, eh?" she said, wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. "Looking to find the perfect bouquet of flowers for her, so later you can have your way with her maybe? Hmmm…?"

"Err…no," Naruto replied, his voice sounding slightly confused as to just what Ino was suggesting, "I just need to-"

"Woo…maybe you're going to start courting Hinata! Finally!" Ino said excitedly as she stepped behind the counter.

"W-what?" Naruto spluttered indignantly, glaring at Ino as she picked a dozen of the incredibly ugly purple flowers, arranging them out in front of her.

"It would be so cute! The two of you walking around the village hand in hand…awww!" she all but cooed at the flowers, now wrapping them in equally ugly yellow paper.

Face bright red, Naruto glared even harder at her, "no, it would  _not_!" he snapped and opened his mouth to say more only to be stopped as Ino trust the bouquet of flowers in his face.

"That'll be 2400 yen."

\--

Naruto grumbled loudly to himself as he stomped away from the shop, ugly purple flowers in hand and a bill for 2400 yen. He hadn't even been able to ask her where Sasuke lived.

"Bloody girls…"

Glaring at nothing in particular, Naruto continued to stomp down the street in the hopes of finding someone who knew where Sasuke lived--or Sasuke himself. The latter would be more convenient but he wasn't going to get his hopes up.

Coming to the village centre, the blond scanned the crowds around him.

No Sasuke.

"Damn it! Where the hell is he!" the past four days he hadn't been able to take two steps without seeing the other boy and now, when he actually wanted to see him--he was nowhere in sight.

"Bastard."

Sasuke was probably doing this on purpose too.

"Asshole."

He was most likely laughing it up somewhere right now.

"Argh! Just come out already, asshole! I know now, you can just come out and-"

"They say the first sign of madness is talking to yourself, you know?" said a lazy voice from behind him and Naruto spun around to glare at the speaker.

"I am not talking to myself!" the blond snapped out at Shikamaru,  "I'm talking to Sasuke!"

Shikamaru looked around them for a moment before looking back at Naruto, his eyebrow raised in question, "you're talking to Sasuke?" he asked doubtfully, the same lazy expression on his face.

"Yes!" Naruto said forcibly, shaking the bouquet of flowers in the other boy's face.

"Uh-huh," Shikamaru muttered, batting the flowers away before walking around the blond boy, "and I'm the Hokage…"

Naruto glared at his retreating back for a moment before calling out to the other boy, "hey! Wait up!" he shouted as he ran to catch up with him, "err…I don't suppose you know where Sasuke lives?"

Shikamaru gave Naruto a flat look, "no, I don't. Why don't you just ask him yourself?" he said, stepping around Naruto again and disappearing into the crowd.

About to run after the boy again, Naruto was stopped when someone tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Eh?" the blond turned around to see Hinata, "hi…" He said unenthusiastically and hid the flowers behind his back, Ino's words from earlier echoing in his mind.

"H-hi…" the dark-haired girl stammered, a blush staining her cheeks, "h-how are you?"

"Oh…I'm good…" Naruto said distractedly, trying to think of a way he could leave without offending the girl.

"Those a-are pretty flowers, Naruto-kun…" Hinata trailed off, looking to the side.

"Eh? Oh…ummm…" he mumbled, bringing the flowers around in front of him. Pretty? “if you say so…"

"Are t-they for someone s-special?" she asked, still not meeting his eyes.

"Err…no, not really."

"Hinata," said a deep voice and they both turned to see Neji standing a few feet away, "we have to get back to the main house," he stated, acknowledging Naruto with a brief nod. 

"Oh…I-I'll see you l-later then, Naruto-kun."

"Wait!" Naruto looked between the two Hyuuga's, "Do you, umm, know where Sasuke lives?" He asked.

"N-no..." the dark-haired girl replied while Neji just shook his head.

Naruto's shoulders slumped slightly, "oh, okay," he said and turned to walk towards the training area but was stopped by Neji's voice.

"Taking flowers to Uchiha?"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and spun around to face them, "what!"

"Those flowers," Neji said, nodding his head towards them, "are they for Uchiha?"

Naruto stared down at the flowers in his hands, then looked back up at Neji, checking if the other boy was serious--which he was, "of course not!" Naruto began, his cheeks flushing red. "Why would I take Sasuke flowers! T-that doesn't…I wouldn't…just, just… _no_!" he finished, glaring at Neji who glared right back.

"Hn," was his only reply.

"They’re not!" Naruto shouted and was about to continue when he saw a familiar blue and black blur leap on to a nearby building in his line of sight.

Sasuke!

"Here," Naruto said, thrusting the flowers at Neji distractedly, his entire focus now completely on the blur of colour he had seen.

Neji stood in shock for a moment as Naruto speed of, his face colouring at Hinata's badly hidden giggle and he glared at the offending flowers before shifting his glare back in the direction Naruto had gone in.

"Idiot."

Leaping onto the nearest building, Naruto quickly made his way over to where he had seen the other boy and scanned the area.

"Ha!"

Running forward suddenly, the blond swiftly picked up Sasuke's trail, the other boy's chakra trail unmistakable; Naruto was no more than a minute behind him. Naruto grinned to himself--it felt good to be the hunter this time, instead of the prey.

Still grinning, Naruto leaped over the buildings, his speed increasing as he went. Sasuke definitely knew he was being followed, the question was--did he know who by?

Of course he did.

Though Naruto couldn't see him, he just knew the asshole would be smirking as well, but the question of whether or not he knew Naruto had figured everything out was anyone's guess.

But Naruto didn't think so. Sasuke always underestimated him.

Naruto finally caught sight of the dark-haired boy as he dived into one of the crowded streets below, probably in the hopes of losing him--not that that was likely. Following the other boy closely, the blond dodged his way in and out of the crowd, never losing sight of Sasuke; even as the other boy turned abruptly, and leapt back on to the roof tops only to drop down yet again in a matter of minutes.

It was quickly turning into a cat and mouse game but, luckily for Naruto, the cat always won.

Naruto watched as Sasuke moved in and out of the crowd, waiting for his chance to strike. The other boy obviously thought that that little trick had fooled him (judging by the smirk on his face) but the street Sasuke had chosen for his escape route was going to be his down fall…so to speak. Naruto knew this street like the back of his hand--in fact he knew this street  _better_  than the back of his hand.

Sasuke was in his territory now.

Giving the ramen man a wave as he climbed out of his hiding place, Naruto slowly began to trail along behind Sasuke until the other boy came to the side road they had been in the day before, stopping to look down it.

_Now!_

Leaping forwards suddenly, Naruto flew towards the other boy, tackling him to the ground before Sasuke could even blink. There was a moment of shocked silence as Sasuke stared up at him and before Naruto could get a word out the other boys' fist connected with his face.

Stumbling backwards, the blond landed hard on his back, "what the hell!" Naruto yelled as he sat up, and noticed, a little belatedly, the small crowd now surrounding them.

Naruto watched as the other boy got to his feet and waited a moment before doing the same and then he _glared_ , "what the  _hell_  was that for?" he asked in a harsh undertone, trying to ignore the whispers travelling around the crowd.

The dark-haired boy fixed Naruto with his best death glare, "what was that for?" Sasuke said in a low voice, his tone sarcastic, "you just fucking tackled me!" he ground out before shifting his glare to the crowd as a few girls all but screamed his name. Naruto too, glared at the girls and was in no way shocked to see his glare returned tenfold and noted, somewhat happily, that Sasuke's glare didn't seem to do much but spur them on.

Returning their attention back to each other, both boys continued their glaring contest.

"What do you want, dobe?" Sasuke snapped irritably and the girls in the crowd echoed his question, adding their own insults on the end.

It didn't seem to better Sasuke's mood at all; nor Naruto’s for that matter.

Naruto's hands clenched and unclenched at his side as he watched the surrounding crowd. His plan had gone slightly better in his head; it certainly didn't involve this many people that's for sure.

Thinking quickly, Naruto shot forward and grabbed hold of Sasuke's shirt before pulling the other boy into the side road.

"I know," he said in a rush, his hand still fisted in Sasuke's shirt.

Sasuke had barely registered the words before he was abruptly pulled in the other direction and a loud screeching filled his ears.

"He's here! He's here!"

"Damnit! Would you  _let_  him _go_!" Naruto snapped at the girl who had latched onto Sasuke's other arm, emphasizing his words with hard pulls of Sasuke's shirt.

The girl tugged on Sasuke's arm again, pulling him closer, "you let go! You have no right t-" she stopped suddenly as puff of smoke obscured her view, "Sasuke-kun?" the girl said in confusion.

Two blocks of wood fell to the ground, the two boys nowhere in sight.

Naruto blinked as the world seemed to tilt and he fell forward, only to be stopped by two cool hands on each side of his face. Blinking again, Naruto focused his eyes and realised he was face to face with Sasuke.

"Eh?" Naruto stared wide-eyed at the dark-haired boy, taking in their new position. He was standing on his tiptoes, his entire body leaning forward; the only thing stopping him from falling face first into the ground of the alley was Sasuke.

This was an almost kiss, Naruto realised suddenly. If Sasuke hadn't have… then that meant Sasuke had stopped it but…didn't he  _want_  this?

The blond started as Sasuke gave him a light shove, causing him to stumble back a step before righting himself.

They stared at each other.

"You know  _what_?" Sasuke asked into the silence, his expression blank as he watched the other boy.

"I…"  _Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap…maybe I'm wrong…but everything he…no, I'm right. I'm right, I'm right, I’m **right**._

Naruto squared his shoulders and looked at Sasuke, his expression almost defiant. "I know,” he repeated simply.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "know  _what_?" he snapped the question again, his eyes never leaving Naruto's.

"I  _know_ ," the blond repeated, drawing the last word out as though it would help the other boy understand. When he didn't receive a reply he continued, "I know…about…" he gestured between himself and Sasuke, "… you know."

"No, I don't. Why don't you  _tell_  me," came the flat reply from Sasuke.

Bastard. He just wanted him to say it. "I know about…you…and...me…" Naruto trailed off, words failing him. How was he supposed to…?

"Hn," Sasuke put his hands in his pockets, turning away slightly.

_Say it._

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, closing it a moment later. He just couldn't say it. He couldn't even  _think_  of a way to say it.

Sasuke shook his head as he began to walk away, his fringe covering his eyes.

The blond opened his mouth yet again, but no words came to mind; instead, he let out a yell of frustration as he ran after the other boy. Reaching out, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shoulder and without giving him a chance to speak, spun him around to face him, pressing his lips against the other boy's before he could protest.

Naruto kept his eyes focused on Sasuke's dark ones and watched; fascinated by the different emotions playing through the other boy's eyes before they slowly slipped shut. A moment later Naruto was pulled closer to the dark-haired boy as he deepened their kiss, Sasuke's arms sliding around his waist and holding him there. His own eyes widened and he felt heat rising in his cheeks at the other boy’s actions but a beat later his eyes slid shut too.

"T-that…" Naruto said breathlessly when they finally broke apart, "that's…that’s what I know."

Sasuke smirked at the other boy's breathlessness and leaned in to give him a chaste kiss across the cheek before stepping back and letting his arms fall, "I know," he replied simply, a small, genuine, smile on his face although there was underlining smugness in his voice as he said the words. His smile slipped into his usual smirk a second later and without another word he turned and walked down the alley, stopping at the end when it was clear Naruto wasn’t following and he raised an eyebrow at the blue-eyed boy, “well?”

Naruto stared at Sasuke, shaking his head despite the slow grin spreading across his face. "Bastard," he said, though without the customary venom the word sounded more fond than anything else.

Maybe their tradition wasn't so bad after all…

Naruto's grin widened suddenly and he finally moved from where he stood, hurrying his steps to catch up with the other boy as he turned to continue walking. He couldn't wait till next year…but then again, maybe he didn't have to.

 

**The End.**


End file.
